CHESHIRE, Mass. — A police investigation of some chicken vandals has left the flock's owner facing hundreds of dollars in fines — and no way to resolve the situation.  

 

That has the Selectmen are pushing the Planning Board to review the zoning ordinance regarding poultry. Last week, they formally referred the request back to the board after getting a response asking for "a reasonable explanation is given by the Selectmen as to how changing the bylaw would be good for the town."

 

"In my mind, the bylaw isn't being consistently applied," said Chair Shawn McGrath. "There's ambiguity as to how it should be applied, if we're going to ignore it for some for some people, or only apply it when there's a complaint."

 

The saga began last month when Nora Whitney's chickens got out of their coop and crossed the street to mess up a neighbor's flowers. 

 

"The lady was upset. I kind of get that," Whitney told the Selectmen earlier this month. "Within a week, the police are over investigating my coop ...

 

"Then we get a letter that I need a special permit. There's no special permit in Cheshire for chickens in your back yard."

 

Whitney said the letter gave her to the July 31 to resolve the issue, which sent her on a fruitless round of contacting various boards and officials.

 

Then she got a voicemail on July 31 telling her she would have to pay for two legal notices in The Berkshire Eagle at $150 a pop to get a permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals. And that the town would look at the bylaws "later."

 

"So now I'm at $300 for my $60 chickens in a chicken coop," Whitney said. "Now this went out to three people. You know, we could all share it, but they've already intimidated the third, so she got rid of her chickens. They're gone."

 

She'd reinforced her coop and the officer had been satisfied with the work, she said.

 

"I don't understand why it didn't just stop when the police came and said they're secured in their pen," Whitney said. "How did it get to a permit?"

 

Town Administrator Jennifer Morse gave the board the rundown: the neighbor made a written complaint to the zoning enforcement officer and it went to the Planning Board, but it is the ZBA that has the authority to issue a variance. The building inspector told Morse that Whitney could be fined $100 the first day and $200 the second day, above and beyond the legal notice.

 

"We did get permission from the Zoning Board of Appeals to waive any fees, but we can't waive the legal fees, you know, for the posting. So that's where that is," said Morse. "Otherwise, it's a $400 or $500 special permit fee that they have."

 

Whitney last week said she had been told she didn't have to pay for the legal notice or the fines so far.

 

Selectman Ronald DeAngelis said it shouldn't be an issue since the town was a "right to farm community" but Morse said the town still has the authority to regulate livestock.

 

According to the town's zoning bylaws, "Keeping of livestock or poultry in the R-1 District [is prohibited], provided, however, that the keeping of pets shall be permitted."

 

"What does that mean?" asked Morse prompting Selectwoman Michelle Francesconi to tell Whitney, "I think your six pet chickens are awesome!"

 

McGrath had called for a motion to request the Planning Board come up with a reasonable bylaw, prompting the response from the board last week basically asking why it should. 

 

Morse said when she had first approached the planners, "pretty much the answer was no, they don't want to take this up.  ... 

 

"But in the meantime, to Nora's point, there are chickens all over the downtown area."

 

Enforcement of the chicken ordinance has varied in the past depending on complaints or the officer, some of whom kept chickens themselves, said officials.

 

Whitney just wanted a resolution to her pricey chicken problem.

 

"I did everything I thought was necessary to keep my chickens, but $300 now I'm mad," she said. "I just don't understand how it got to this point when it's six chickens in a dog coop, and I'm supposed to pay $300 so that they can decide if I should have them, that I've had for six years in that back yard."