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Backyard hens hatches debate about public consultation duration

June 13, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Mono residents are a step closer to the possibility of backyard-fresh eggs.

Mono staff was asked to prepare a draft bylaw and to plan a short public consultation process to allow the keeping of hens in residential backyards.

The use of the word “short” spawned debate about the necessity for public consultation for all issues.

A four-year pilot program to allow residents to raise a maximum of four hens in a backyard coop in urban areas of the town has been broached a few times.

Councillor Melinda Davie had a problem with limiting public consultation to a short outing.

“The public that we represent have some different ideas about things,” she said. “If they have different ideas because they’re misinformed, then it behooves us to go out of our way to make sure that everybody is on the same page with this.”

There’s already a bylaw that allows hens to be kept on rural properties. And, she said, one of the things she’d heard during the election campaign was some people on rural properties are bothered by the rooster over the fence next door.

“I think public input is discouraged by saying a short public consultation process,” Davie said. “Just makes me feel like we would be perceived as rushing through something without careful consideration for both sides of the fence.”

“People elect us for a purpose, and that’s to make decisions on their behalf,” Mayor John Creelman said. “Sometimes when we make decisions that aren’t popular, we hear from people.”

He said council is entering “treacherous territory” when every issue considered needs to wait for public input before a bylaw is passed or a decision is made.

“I think we have to be somewhat selective,” Creelman said. “And I think hens, frankly, is not something that requires and inordinate amount of public input.”

The backyard hens issue has been before council and municipal staff for more than a year, he said, and added that it’s time council weigh a draft bylaw and any kind of appeal process attached to it.

“But if we’re going to make a policy that every single idea that comes before us is something that has to go out to public consultation, with all that entails, then I don’t think we’re doing our job,” Creelman said.

A decision on whether or not to allow backyard hens shouldn’t require public consultation, he said. Council is elected to decide on such routine matters.

“I’m saying that our public is telling us that they are not aware of all the things all of the time,” Davie said. “They’re telling is that, so how can we say that we represent them if we didn’t get to hear their opinions?”

“If we get it wrong, then we will hear from people,” Creelman said.

“This is a brand new thing in our developed areas that people want to have hens,” Davie said. “It’s a new concept for people.”

Coops became an issue when a Mono resident who grew up on a farm wanted his children to have some of that same experience. The resident moved from Orangeville to Mono where he was raised. And he said he discovered he couldn’t have a coop because he lived in a part of town zoned for residential.

So he looked into other municipalities and discovered that even larger centres like Toronto, Mississauga, and Brampton allow backyard chickens and hens.

Regarding the concern about noisy roosters Davie heard during the campaign, the resident said hens could produce eggs for consumption without a rooster.

Deputy Mayor Fred Nix said giving the bylaw a first reading is in effect providing an opportunity for the public to give feedback to council.

“The bylaw first reading then allows at least two weeks,” Nix said. “Easily, we could allow four weeks for the public to comment on that draft.”

“Just for clarity, it (council happenings) goes into Council Highlights. It goes on the website and residents who want to follow council have to take some initiative to do so,” Creelman said. “We cannot spoon feed absolutely everyone in the town all the time. It’s a two-way street.”

Davie said the Council Highlights publication is a good idea, but only 500 of the town’s 7,000 voters subscribe to it.

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