At the request of the Board of Supervisors, in August 2009 staff proposed an ordinance restricting how many farm animals can be kept on each rural parcel, in terms of the number of horses, cows, pigs, goats, or chickens allowed per acre.
The limits were proposed not with standards for efficient or sustainable agriculture in mind, but rather with the goal of limiting impacts on neighbors.
NVLSA and others objected, pointing out that this is an agricultural county and animal husbandry is agriculture. The Board of Supervisors changed course, creating a citizens committee/Livestock Council to review neighbors’ complaints about horses and other large animals, and directed staff to prepare an ordinance that merely limits chickens.
Staff’s most recent proposal (October, 2009) is to limit the number of roosters on any parcel and to limit each RS (residential single) zoned parcel to just six hens. Staff contends that since the zoning ordinance does not currently specifically allow raising chickens, raising chickens is therefore currently prohibited, and that this new restriction will actually establish new property rights, allowing each parcel to have up to six hens, where none were allowed before.
For NVLSA’s rebuttal to staff’s contention that chickens are prohibited because they are not specifically allowed, see email correspondence between George Bachich and Hillary Gitelman below, (also posted under Chicken Ordinance on the Napa County website).
As of this writing (February 2010) the final Chicken Ordinance has not yet been scheduled for public hearing.
Chicken Ordinance related documents may be linked to below.
Chicken Ordinance Correspondence / George Bachich and Hillary Gitelman