Like many who’ve joined the growing ranks of backyard chicken farmers, Joe and Sheila Papay of south Chandler are accused of running afoul of city zoning laws —
violating an ordinance prohibiting chickens in most residential areas.
Similar cases across the Valley highlight the code-enforcement headache cities face as a result of a national movement toward urban agriculture, The Arizona Republic reports.
A push for locally raised, environmentally sustainable foods is clashing with more traditional expectations of how neighborhoods should sound, look and smell.
Proponents of the chickens say several cities, including Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale, have relatively friendly ordinances, meaning they don’t prohibit the practice outright in residential areas.
Other cities, such as Chandler and Glendale, take a far more restrictive approach. Both cities ban chickens in many neighborhoods, with exceptions for those with more rural or agricultural-type zoning overlays.
But nearly every city bans roosters outright or implicitly because their crows would violate most any noise ordinance — and rattle neighbors hoping to sleep in on a Saturday morning.
Phoenix requires owners to receive written permission from their neighbors or keep their coops at least 80 feet from the nearest home. It leads to sometimes delicate negotiations between annoyed neighbors and chicken enthusiasts, talks that can be smoothed over with baskets of fresh eggs or end in bitter code-enforcement fights.
Joe Papay is appealing his misdemeanor zoning-violation charge in county Superior Court. A court battle buys him time until the law can be changed. Regardless of the pending criminal case and a steep potential fine, the couple said they refuse to give up their chickens.
