Agriculture ordinance amendment proposed for Clinton Township
CLINTON TWP — The township board of supervisors will hold a public hearing on a proposed amendment to its agriculture ordinance.
The change would clarify the township’s stance on raising chickens and other domesticated agricultural animals.
“I think the key to this is for people to understand that Clinton Township is an agricultural community with a rural flavor to it,” said township supervisor Kathy Allen at an agenda-setting meeting Monday, Nov. 27. “We wanted to give some boundaries to those people that want to raise chickens. We're in no way discouraging people from raising chickens. We just want to give them some boundaries.”
The proposed amendment would add new language to and slightly modify an existing ordinance.
The only two lines addressing the issue in the current ordinance are that “no animal agriculture shall occur on a lot less than 5 acres,” and “no building housing livestock shall be within 100 feet of a dwelling zoned rural residential.”
The proposed amendments to the ordinance would add a section which would permit residents of lots under 5 acres to own “certain domesticated agricultural animals as pets.”
This new section would set rules and guidelines for the safe and neighborly ownership of such pets. These would include remaining in compliance with all applicable state and federal laws, as well as “all township codes governing noise, sanitation, odor, and the like.”
All pet owners would also have to make sure their animals stay on their property, as well as provide sanitary conditions for their pets.
“We wanted people to understand that they make certain that their chickens don't roam onto other properties,” Allen said. “Also, when you have multiple roosters, it can create a noise issue. We’re trying to avoid that as well.”
Supervisor James Halstead said the proposed amendment was in response to changing times, in which a growing number of residents are raising their own flocks of chickens to produce eggs at home.
“The ordinance before didn’t allow any exceptions,” Halstead said. “Anybody with less than 5 acres couldn't even keep chickens the way it had been written originally, because that was before everybody and his brother had chickens in his backyard. Now we’ve had an explosion in backyard flocks.”
The amended ordinance would also add two items to the first section, advising farmers to manage their animals’ manure in compliance with state and federal regulations and to store and manage feed and water to guard against rodent infestation.
“I think we're being proactive. We're trying to prevent issues from happening,” Allen said. “I think our whole community is proactive in trying to keep ahead before an issue or problem does occur.
No date or time has been set for the public hearing yet, but Allen said it will most likely take place before the board’s next regular meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 13.
