Soddy-Daisy considers allowing backyard chickens

photo Chickens tile

The city of Soddy-Daisy is looking into the possibility of an ordinance that would allow backyard chickens.

Residents Cam and Kelly Delligatti went before the Board of Commissioners Sept. 4 to question a letter sent to them by Public Works Director Steve Grant stating that their chickens and rabbits are prohibited in the residential R-1 zone in which their home on Berry Meadow Way is located.

Cam Delligatti said he researched the laws before moving to Berry Meadow Way and did not see anything prohibiting rabbits or chickens. He said he would not have moved there if he was aware of such a law.

City Attorney Sam Elliott said the law states only what is allowed, but everything else is illegal.

Cam Delligatti said the family has three rabbits and five chickens. The chickens were a gift to his daughter on her fourth birthday.

"They are pets," Kelly Delligatti said. "They have names."

Cam Delligatti said his closest neighbor is 150 feet away and the neighborhood covenant prohibiting chickens has expired.

Larry Sherman, also a resident of Berry Meadow Way, went before the board to state that the neighborhood covenant is still in effect.

Elliott said the city cannot enforce the neighborhood covenant, but said he would look into the exclusionary clause in the zoning law that Grant interpreted as prohibiting chickens, as well as look into the possibility of an ordinance that would allow them. The board of commissioners does not have the authority to grant the Delligattis special permission to keep their animals, he said.

Chickens are allowed in the unincorporated parts of Hamilton County. When brought before the Chattanooga City Council last year, the measure led to much public debate but was ultimately voted down.

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