September 17, 2015

Tucson Planning Commission OKs Backyard Chickens

Proposal making urban farming easier moves to City Council for final approval.

Chickens spot
AZPM

Listen:

Tucson’s Planning Commission voted Wednesday to recommend changes to city zoning so people can keep chickens and practice other aspects of urban farming in their yards.

Until now, many people with chicken coops or vegetable gardens in their backyards have been, technically, in violation of existing zoning codes.

The city has been largely lenient in enforcement, and the current proposal would officially expand the areas where residents could practice all aspects of urban agriculture.

Several dozen residents, most of them chicken owners, came in support of the measure, including Emily Palmer of Rita Ranch.

"I've had chickens in my backyard for many years and a couple of years ago I found out that my set up was not in compliance with the law," Palmer said. "I consider myself to be a law-abiding citizen, and I’ve been working to get them to move forward on this ever since so I can keep my chickens and be on the right side of the law."

Palmer and others broke out into applause after the commissioners voted to recommend the changes.

City officials have been discussing the zoning codes on urban agriculture since 2009.

The proposal will now go to the City Council for a final vote.

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona