[Adopted 9-7-2011 by L.L. No. 6-2011; amended in its entirety 2-15-2017 by L.L. No. 1-2017]
It shall be unlawful for any person to keep any chicken, pigeon, turkey, duck or any fowl in any residential or commercial district in any building or structure or on the same lot or premises, except as provided in § 89-17 through § 89-20.
It shall be lawful for any person to keep, permit or allow any domesticated chicken hens in any residential district under the following terms and conditions and after having received a permit to keep said chicken hens from the Building Department as prescribed herein under the following terms and conditions:
A. 
No more than six chicken hens shall be allowed for any single-family dwelling or multifamily dwelling, with a minimum lot area of 22,500 square feet (150 feet by 150 feet) from rear of house to real property boundary.
B. 
No chicken hens shall be allowed in multifamily complexes, including duplexes, without the expressed written consent of the owner of the building and all tenants residing in the building other than the applicant.
C. 
No chicken hens shall be allowed without the express written consent of all residents residing on property adjacent to that of the applicant.
D. 
No roosters shall be allowed.
E. 
Chicken hens are to be restricted to the rear or backyard of any lot in a residential zoning district or the rear or backyard of a residential use in all other zoning districts and must have setbacks 25 feet from the side and 50 feet from the rear of the real property lines.
F. 
Chicken hens shall be kept as pets and for personal use only; no person shall sell eggs or meat or engage in chicken breeding or fertilizer production for commercial purposes.
G. 
Persons wishing to keep chicken hens within the City of Rensselaer shall apply for a building permit from the City Building Department, and after inspection and approval of the coop and cage that chicken hens are to be kept in by the City Building and Zoning Administrator, pursuant to § 89-20 hereof.
The Building Department will issue a permit; applications will be available from the Building Department. The application for such permit shall include the following information:
A. 
The name, phone number and property address of the applicant.
B. 
The location of the subject property.
C. 
The size of the subject property.
D. 
The number of chicken hens the applicant seeks to keep on the property.
E. 
A description of any coops or cages that will house the chicken hens, together with a description of any fencing, barriers or enclosures surrounding the curtilage of the property.
F. 
A description of the manner by which feces and other waste materials will be removed from the property or will be treated so as not to result in unsanitary conditions or in the attraction of rodents and insects.
G. 
A signed statement from the property owner, if the applicant is not the property owner, granting the applicant permission to engage in the keeping of chicken hens as described in the permit application.
H. 
A signed statement from any and all tenants of the building that they consent to the applicant's keeping of chicken hens on the premises.
I. 
A signed statement from any resident residing on a property adjacent to the applicant's property consenting to the applicant's keeping of chicken hens on the premises.
J. 
The addresses of all properties within a fifty-foot radius of the subject property.
A. 
Setbacks.
(1) 
The coops or cages housing such chicken hens must be situated at least 20 feet from any door or window of a dwelling, school, church or other occupied structure other than the applicant's dwelling.
(2) 
The coops or cages housing such chicken hens may not be located in front- or side-street yard areas and shall not be located within 25 feet of a side yard lot line nor within 50 feet of a rear yard lot line. No chicken hens shall be kept in front-yard or side-street-yard areas.
B. 
Enclosures; coops and cages.
(1) 
The chicken hens shall be kept within both a coop and a fenced outdoor enclosure.
(2) 
The chicken hens must be kept in the coop and fenced outdoor enclosure at all times and shall not be allowed to run free in the fenced outdoor enclosure unless a responsible individual, over 18 years of age, is directly monitoring said activity and is able to immediately respond should said chickens need to be returned to their individual cages.
(3) 
The chicken coop shall be a covered, predator-resistant, well-ventilated structure providing a minimum of two square feet per chicken hen.
(4) 
The outdoor enclosure shall be adequately fenced to contain the chicken hens and to protect the chicken hens from predators.
(5) 
The coop must be kept in a clean, dry and sanitary condition at all times.
(6) 
The outdoor enclosure shall be cleaned on a regular basis to prevent the accumulation of animal waste.
(7) 
The total area of all coops or cages on a lot shall not be greater than 32 square feet for up to six chicken hens. Coops and cages, singly or in combination, shall not exceed seven feet in height.
(8) 
The chicken feed or other food used to feed the chicken hens shall be stored in a rodent- and insect-proof, fastened container stored within a structure, which shall only be unfastened for the retrieval of food and immediately refastened thereafter.
(9) 
The chicken hens shall be fed only from an approved trough. Scattering of food on the ground is prohibited.
C. 
Sanitation and nuisances.
(1) 
Chicken hens shall be kept only in conditions that limit odors and noise and the attraction of insects and rodents so as not to cause a nuisance to occupants of nearby buildings or properties and to comply with applicable provisions of both the New York State and the Rensselaer County Sanitary Codes.
(2) 
Chicken hens shall not be kept in a manner that is injurious or unhealthful to any animals being kept on the property.
D. 
Slaughtering. There shall be no outdoor slaughtering of chicken hens.
A. 
Initial review.
(1) 
Upon receipt of a chicken permit application, the Building Department shall immediately notify the Office of Animal Control of said application, including the number of chicken hens sought to be permitted and the location of the proposed chicken coop or cages.
(2) 
The Building Department shall immediately notify those property owners who own the properties within 50 feet of the applicant's property and provide them with an opportunity to provide written comments as to their support or opposition to the proposed chicken coop.
(3) 
The City Clerk and the office of the Mayor shall immediately be notified of the chicken permit application.
(4) 
If the Building Department receives no written comments evidencing opposition to or concern regarding the proposed chicken coop within 20 days of receipt of the application, it shall issue a permit for up to six chicken hens to the applicant, which permit shall be nontransferable and valid for one year from the date of a satisfactory inspection by the Building Department and shall be subject to the renewal provisions set forth below.
(5) 
The Building Department shall determine, in its discretion, and taking into account the entire record before it, whether or not a chicken permit shall be issued to the applicant. The Building Department shall be empowered to impose further conditions on the permit that it deems to be necessary to preserve the public health, safety and/or welfare.
(6) 
Upon the approval of a majority of the Building Department, the Zoning Board of Appeals shall take action on the permit application in accordance with the City Charter and § 89-20.
(7) 
The Building Department shall cause an inspection of the proposed chicken coop to be conducted to verify conformance with the provisions of §§ 89-16 through 89-20 hereof within 45 days of the applicant being issued a permit.
(8) 
After completion of the inspection by the Building Department and confirmation that the coop conforms to the specifications provided in the application approved by the Building Department, the permittee shall be allowed to keep the number of chicken hens specified in the permit on the premises.
(9) 
A permit issued to an applicant shall include the permittee's proper name, the property address for which the permit is valid, the number of chicken hens allowed at the property address, a unique permit number, the date the permit was issued, an expiration date exactly one year from the date of issuance and any conditions imposed by the Building and Zoning Administrator.
(10) 
Only one chicken permit shall be issued per applicant and per property. No permittee shall be eligible to obtain a chicken permit for multiple properties, nor shall more than one permit be issued to one property address.
B. 
Renewal.
(1) 
On the first day of May of every year, the Building Department shall file with and notify the City Clerk, the office of the Mayor and the Animal Control Officer of all chicken hen permits issued in the prior year, including names of the permittees, their property addresses, the number of chicken hens permitted at said property and the issuance and expiration dates of said permits.
(2) 
On or before June 1 of every year, the Building Department, the office of the Mayor or any other interested party shall file complaints received regarding permitted chicken hens.
(3) 
Any complaints received, regarding any particular chicken permit issued shall be considered at a meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals, at which the permittee and any other interested party shall have the right to be heard concerning said permit.
(4) 
The Building Department may, in its discretion, not renew any chicken permit for any reason after the permittee and any other interested party have been given an opportunity to be heard.
(5) 
On June 1 of every year, the Building Department shall proceed to consider renewal of all chicken permits issued, as prescribed in Subsections B(1) through (4), and may revoke any permit issued pursuant thereto.
(6) 
If, at any time, the Zoning Board of Appeals is made aware of any complaints regarding a properly permitted chicken coop, it may proceed to hear the complaints of any interested party and the defense of the permittee at a meeting of its Zoning Board of Appeals and may revoke the permit issued for any reason pursuant to Subsection B(5) hereof.
(7) 
If a permit is renewed pursuant to the provisions hereof, the applicant may continue to keep chicken hens pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth herein and imposed in the initial permit.
(8) 
Except in the case of a chicken coop that is not permanently affixed to the ground and is therefore mobile, any permittee shall first obtain a building permit in accordance with Chapter 179, Zoning, §§ 179-12 through 179-19, hereof prior to constructing or erecting a chicken coop not inconsistent herewith.