100 signatures reached
To: Crown Point BZA and City Council
Allow owning chickens in Crown Point, In.
To all it may concern,
Many cities across the US are shifting to more self-sustaining practices and adapting to climate change concerns by allowing their citizens to own chickens.
Having egg laying chickens in the yard is beneficial in many ways. They lay a nutritious high-protein food supply, they can later become a high protein food supply, they fertilize the garden with their droppings and they eat bugs that are harmful to the garden.
Thus reducing, if not eliminating the need for pesticides.
Currently in the city of Crown Point, wealthier people who own more acreage are allowed to own chicken coops, while others owning or renting less land are not permitted to do so.
Having an ordinance set that allows Crown Point’s citizens the right own, grow and secure healthy food is beneficial to the community as a whole.
The new law should allow only well maintained coops- owners with messy coops should be subject to ordinance violations, as with any other companion animal in the city.
The city can adopt similar practices of the many major suburban cities that have recently overturned their ordinance to allow chickens/chicken coops. These cities use an ordinance that require an annual permit fee of $25.
-No roosters.
-Six to eight hens.
-No slaughter.
-Chickens must be in a predator-proof coop, minimum set back of 10-30 ft from your neighbors dwelling.
We look forward to working with you to continue to create a stronger community from within, by creating adaptive practices that combat climate change at the local level.
Thank you,
Why is this important?
The CDC, USDA, and the NIH have all released reports of growing concerns for global food insecurity due to the impact of climate change.
The CDC reports that nutritional value of food is projected to decline due to soil nitrogen levels being suboptimal. Farmers are expected to use more herbicides and pesticides due to increased growth of pests and weeds. As a result, farmers, farmworkers, and consumers will be increasingly exposed to these substances and their residues, which can be toxic. These impacts of climate change on the nutritional value of food exist within a larger context. The CDC recommends adaptation activities to reduce health related impacts of the anticipated food security challenges. Changing the way we go about agricultural practices, food distribution systems, and consumer food choices, also play key roles in solving the global crisis.
The USDA also reports that climate change is very likely to affect global, regional, and local food security by disrupting food availability, decreasing access to food, and making utilization more difficult. As part of a highly integrated global food system, consumers and producers in the United States are likely to be affected by these changes. Adaptation across the food system has great potential to manage climate-change effects on food security, and the complexity of the food system offers multiple potential points of intervention for decision makers at every level, from households to nations and international governance structures.
The right to have backyard chickens/chicken coops is part and parcel of Crown Point citizens’ right to self sustaining and environmentally sound living practices. Creating a new ordinance that allows residents of Crown Point to own egg laying chickens and coops, is an easy solution to a global concern.
Chickens provide a chemical free and organic food supply with high nutrient and protein value to my children at very little cost and work. It is the citizens right to self-determination to procure a secure source of healthy and nutritious food. Chickens are a necessary element to environmentally friendly, self-sustaining gardening practices that promote healthy food security.
Food security is a fundamental human right, that is paramount to the health and wellbeing of the citizens of Crown Point.