County incubates new chicken regulations

Following a community workshop Tuesday regarding an ordinance that would legalize residential chicken-keeping in Sarasota County, a woman stood in the middle of a group that had remained to discuss the issue.

As she spoke, she stopped short, looking over both her shoulders.

Then, she shrugged.

“Well, I guess there is no one here who could get me in trouble,” she said.

Knowing she was surrounded by other supporters of the proposed ordinance, she confessed: She had already ordered her chickens.

She planned to pick up five chicks from the post office the next morning, and she thinks the County Commission will pass the ordinance before the chickens are big enough to live outside.

But for now, she hopes her neighbor won’t find out.

Most of the attendees seemed excited about the prospect of keeping chickens — particularly because they either know someone who already has chickens in Sarasota County or because they were keeping them themselves.

Jono Miller, founder of the group Citizens Lobbying for Urban Chicken Keeping (CLUCK), says he’s heard several accounts of people buying chickens and raising them illegally for years without issue. When neighborhood disputes do pop up, Miller says the chickens become pawns in a feud between humans.

“People bust their neighbors,” Miller said. “Then, building code people come out and say you have so many days to become compliant, and then they have to get rid of their chickens.”

The proposed ordinance limits Sarasota County residents to four chickens, no roosters and does not apply to deed-restriced areas that already prohibit chickens. It also mandates chickens be kept in a movable coop at least 10 feet from property lines and 25 feet from a neighboring residential structure.

Sarasota County Zoning Administrator Donna Thompson says the county is giving homeowners associations time to adjust if they would like to prohibit chickens in their neighborhoods.

The ordinance will go before the Planning Commission Aug. 18 and is slated for its first County Commission hearing Sept. 10.

Miller believes passing an ordinance will prevent people from being forced to get rid of their pets while encouraging them to keep chickens responsibly.

“I really do think that if you tell people there are rules, people will try to follow those rules,” Miller said.