General News

Mono backyard coops bylaw gets first reading

March 27, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Mono residents are closer to being able to have chickens in their backyards.

The stipulation that it is a trial program is important, said town clerk Fred Simpson when Mono council met on March 25 to consider the backyard chicken bylaw.

“Once the trial ends, if council wishes to then carry on with this program, a zoning bylaw amendment would be needed at that time,” said Simpson,

It was the first reading of the proposed bylaw that has been on council’s to-do list since February 2023.

The trial period is over four years and residents will pay $100 annually to have a maximum of four chickens in their coop.

Deputy Mayor Fred Nix said he’s fine with the draft bylaw as it is.

“But I must say my initial reaction is that it’s too bureaucratic,” Nix said. “And $100 a year for four hens, that’s $25 a chicken.”

And then there are exact specifications to which people have to adhere regarding such metrics as coop sizes, fencing requirements, and property measurements.

Nix said so many exact specifications are heavy-handed.

“If we’re going to allow chickens in the backyard, the bylaw should just say that,” he said.

Simpson said there are reasons for those requirements. It ensures that the town has the authority to cancel a license if the hens are not being kept in a manner that’s going to reduce the impact on neighbours.

Those finely spelled-out rules are also to ensure the program isn’t paid for from municipal general tax dollars.

To the deputy mayor’s point, Councillor Melinda Davie said the licensing needs to be heavy-handed.

“Because we’re not talking about your neighbourhood or my neighbourhood,” she said. “We’re talking about places that are not zoned at the moment because everybody lives very close.”

Not everybody can live with some of the noisier and smellier coops next door to them.

Mike Dunmore, the town’s CAO, said councillors don’t live in Mono’s urban core, as Davie mentioned.

“And you’re not aware of the potential concerns,” he said and added that allowing coops has been identified as potentially volatile in that urban core.

“I’m hoping council looks at the fact that we have one request (to allow backyard coops) of well over 1,500 homes that this could potentially affect,” Dunmore said.

Coops became an issue in the municipality 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.

Simpson said nearby Orangeville allows backyard chickens and hens but he doesn’t have any information on how they have been received by residents.

“I think we need to find out how people are going to feel about this,” said Coun. Elaine Capes.

Mayor John Creelman said he lives in a rural area in which he wouldn’t be impacted by neighbouring coops. Many people live in such areas. And they could influence the results of a resident survey designed to gauge the feelings of Mono’s resident in more urban areas who live in closer proximity to their neighbours.

Coun. Ralph Manktelow said there could be a feature on an online survey where respondents could indicate in a non-specific way if they live in a rural or close urban neighbourhood.

“I’m happy with the bylaw but it comes at a very interesting time,” Manktelow said. “This is a time when bird flu is rampant in the United States. It’s pretty bad.”

Manktelow, who is a retired physician, said the last report he read indicated that as many as 160 million birds have been culled as a measure against the spread of bird flu.

“This is a huge thing,” he said.

The bird flu is transmitted to humans by way of dairy cows and birds.

Manktelow said the last infection statistic he read is that less than 100 people have been infected. Though it isn’t passed from person to person yet, it is expected to mutate to spread that way.

“It’s very infectious,” he said.

Then a little later: “I predict it’s going to be a big problem for organic poultry raisers because one of the things about organic is that you have it free range and so these birds are going to get infected,” Manktelow said.

He suggested the town include an information item regarding bird flu when people pick up an application to raise chickens and hens.

“I think people should be forewarned about bird flu,” Capes said.

She said the issue could be delayed and brought back to council after health authorities design a course of action for possible bird flu.

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