Jiri Rambousek is one city council vote away from being the first person in recent memory to hold a backyard chicken permit in Summerside.
Rambousek has a number of fruit trees planted on his property, keeps a garden and is hoping to make his family a little more self-sufficient by keeping a few hens.
He wants to house two to four birds in a mobile coop or “chicken tractor” in his city home’s backyard.
“As a teenager, I grew up on a farm,” said Rambousek. “Here we have some good land, a half-acre, and I was thinking of going back to some roots.
“I know I don’t need hundreds of them, two or four is good enough for the whole family. We’d just like to have fresh eggs.”
Other P.E.I. municipalities – Charlottetown, Cornwall and Stratford, among them – have prohibited the keeping of backyard hens in most residential areas. So Summerside is something of an outlier in that it does allow the keeping of laying hens, so long as the owner gets a permit and abides by the Animal Control Bylaw.
To get a permit, Rambousek has had to clear some hurdles under the bylaw. He’s made a written statement to the city’s animal control officer (which Police Chief Dave Poirier is the stand-in for) and collected written proof that other property owners within a 200-ft. radius of his home have been notified of his intentions.
Poirier also reached out to Health P.E.I. to get their opinion as to whether chickens in an urban environment could be a health concern. The province’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Heather Morrison, wrote back with a number of recommendations on the safe handling of the eggs and chickens but otherwise stated there was no cause for concern so long as the proper precautions were taken.
“There were no issues,” said Poirier.
“He met all the criteria.”
Poirier added that this request is only the third of its kind he’s encountered in 13 years. The other two permits are no longer active, so if one is granted to Rambousek he would be the only homeowner in Summerside allowed to have chickens.
However, the ultimate decision on whether or not to grant the request rests with city council.
A preliminary recommendation approving the permit was passed during Tuesday night’s Police, Fire and Emergency Planning Committee. Council will make a final decision at its June 17 meeting.
Rambousek is hopeful. None of the councillors present at the committee meeting expressed concerns, other than making sure he’d checked with his neighbours for their input.
He’s already started building his coop.
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