Approval recommended for chicken ordinance
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. - Janet Doyle told the Prince William County Planning Commission that the current zoning laws make her “madder than a wet hen.”
As the zoning laws read now, residents cannot keep chickens on residential properties, even if they have large lots in a rural area.
Doyle said that when she first bought her home, on one acre in an agricultural area in the Brentsville District, she thought she would be allowed to keep chickens there.
Several county residents have asked for changes to the zoning laws to make that possible.
Wednesday, the Prince William County planning commission unanimously voted to recommend approving those changes.
The proposed changes would allow residents to keep chickens and other fowl on residential properties with at least two acres of land.
In the county’s designated rural area, residents could keep fowl on any size property.
The number of birds allowed would vary depending on lot size.
For example, on two acres, residents could keep 10 chickens, pigeons, or doves, six ducks, four turkeys, geese or pea fowl, or two emu or ostriches.
Coops would have to be at least 50 feet from neighboring properties.
The proposed changes will go to the Board of County Supervisors in October.
Ten people spoke at the Planning Commission’s public hearing Wednesday and most spoke in favor of the change, especially in the rural area.
“Rural land isn’t just to look pretty,” said Monica Garrison, who hopes to raise chickens for eggs. “It’s for production of food.”
Two Coles District residents, Christopher Wallace and Fay Wallace, a correspondent for the News & Messenger, spoke against the proposed changes.
The Wallaces said they had a bad experience when their neighbor kept chickens on his one-acre property.
“We are speaking not from lack of education, but from first-hand personal experience,” said Faye Wallace, who said smell, noise and attacks by predator animals were problems when her neighbor kept chickens.
The issue is set to go to the Board of County Supervisors on Oct. 19.
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