Heather and Robert Dorsten are appealing a recent city ruling that having their two hens, Dotty and Lucy, in the back yard of their West Race Street home violates the city’s zoning code. The appeal will be heard in Miami County Common Pleas Court. The hearing date has not been set. Staff Photo/Ron Osburn
Decision
ruffles
feathers Couple file appeal of BZA ruling against chickens
Heather and Robert Dorsten, of 404 W. Race St., who own the two chickens, filed an appeal Wednesday in Miami County Common Pleas Court of a recent decision by the city Board of Zoning Appeals. The BZA ruled Oct. 26 that having the two fowl within the city limits constitutes animal husbandry and thus violates the city zoning code.
BZA members voted 3-2 in favor of granting the Dorstens a variance of the code, but four votes were needed to approve the variance. Two members were absent from the Oct. 26 meeting.
The city was alerted in September by an anonymous caller upset with a crowing rooster at the Dorstens' address. The Dorsetens subsequently gave away two of their four birds, including the one they discovered was actually a rooster.
They went to the BZA after being told that having Lucy and Dotty constituted animal husbandry and thus was a zoning code violation.
Robert Dorsten said he and his wife decided to appeal because their two hens are pets and because they do not meet either the dictionary definition or the U.S. Department of Agriculture definition of animal husbandry. He also said he questioned whether they got a fair hearing from the BZA because two members were absent for the Oct. 26 vote and because he felt his wife did not get an adequate opportunity to give testimony at the meeting.
No court date has been set.
Dorsten said he and his wife decided to get the backyard hens after reading about their environmental benefits. They said the two nine-month-old chickens - Lucy is a New Hampshire Red and Dotty is a black-feathered Bard Rock - graze on leftover table scraps and have cut the Dorstens' weekly trash output from two bags to one.
