Dear Juneau Residents,

Once upon a time Juneau used to be an agrarian community with more than 4 dairy farms, fields of oats and hay, fox farms, chicken coops etc. Old Dairy Road & Fox Farms used to actually have those facilities on them. We are still a remote community regardless of modern developments.

Juneau depends on the barge line to bring in its food each week. If we were to be cut off from boat and plane for whatever reason we would run out of food quickly. Chickens provide a sustainable source of eggs, meat, pest control, and compost for gardening.

The current CBJ laws allow some zones 6 hens and no roosters. 6 hens barely provide enough eggs for a family of 4 and most definitely isn't enough for a larger family. A $450 permit must be purchased if you want anymore hens. No roosters under any circumstances.

Neighborhoods that fall into zoning districts D-15 and D-18 are only allowed 3 hens and only if they have 100 ft between neighbors, which clearly prohibits these areas from owning chickens at all.

Neighborhoods currently prohibited from having chickens, unless approved with one of the $450 permits:

D-15 & D-18 Chickens Restricted
1st Street-Douglas
2nd St.
3rd St-Douglas
4th Street-Douglas
6th Street-Juneau
7th Street-Juneau
8th Street-Juneau
Basin Rd
Beach Dr.
Bonnie Way
Bridgeview Condos
Capital view Condos
Capital View St.
Cedar Park
Channel Home
Channel Terrace
Chatham Place Apts
Chinook Apartments
Churchill Mobile Home Park
Churchill Way
Cliff House Condos
Coogan Drive Apartments & Condos
Creek St.
Creekside Park
Crow Hill
Crow Hill Condos
Delta Ave
Distan Ave
Douglas Hwy
Eagle's Edge
Forest Edge Condos
Geneva Woods
Glacier Ave Residential Condos
Glacier Valley School Neighborhoods
Glacierview Mobile Home Park
Great Western St.
Haloff
Harris St.
Hayes Way
Highland Terrace Condos
Indian St
Island Hills
Jackson Way
John St
Kodzoff Acres
Kowee (N.Douglas)
Lakeside Condos
Lawson Creek Condos
Lawson Creek Rd.
Lee Street Apartments & Condos
Lemon Creek Rd
Marilyn Ave
Mendenhall Resident Condos
Mountain Meadow Estates
Old Lawson Creek Rd.
Park Place
Parkshore Condos
Peters Lane
Pioneer Home
Raven Rd.
Rheinhardt St
Riverbend Housing
Rogers St
Savikko Rd.
Seven Mile
Simpson Ave
Sitka St
Spaulding Beach Area
Sprucewood Park
Switzer Mobile Home Park
Taku Terrace Condos
Tamarack Trails
Thunder Mountain Trailer Park
Treadwell Arena Area
Valley Blvd
Vanderbilt Creek Area
Virginia St
Vista Dr
West Ridge Condos

Also, rooster owners aren't given chances to cure violations they are told to terminate the animal immediately.

Roosters protect the hens from predators in our area such as: bears, domestic dogs, cats, hawks, and wolves. They also work to keep the hens from creating a pecking order, which can lead to injury or death. Hens are known to lay more eggs when a rooster is around because they are happier and safer. Roosters also provide fertilized eggs for sustainability. The fertilized eggs have been used for education purposes in our community children's classrooms as well.

Roosters can now use a crow collar which eliminates or greatly diminishes the sound of their crow. Another strategy is keeping the animal in its coop until later in the day.

Dogs bark all night long in some neighborhoods and the city would never propose to terminate the dog. Dogs have bitten people and gotten off with a warning. Cats attack hens constantly animal control does nothing about it, but there remains no laws over the damage outdoor, free-to-roam cats inflict on others.

We feel due to the aforementioned reasons some change needs to be implemented on the current CBJ chicken laws, so we propose the following changes:

#1 In zoning districts: RR, D-1, D-3, D-5, D-10SF, D-10, LC, GC, WC, WI, I

Allowed up to 12 chickens if they are kept 15 ft from neighboring dwellings. If your property is 1 acre or more 24 chickens allowed. 2 acres or more unlimited chickens allowed. The city may restrict your operations if it causes a public nuisance (noise), public health (disease), or if the chickens roam at large.
Chicken keepers will be given 2 warnings to remedy violations before the city can prohibit operations.

#2 In zoning districts: D-15, D-18, MU, MU2

-Up to six chickens may be kept without any special permit IF the chicken coop and yard are more than 20 feet from the nearest neighboring residence.
-When the coop & yard are closer than 20 feet from the nearest neighboring residence a conditional use permit is required. 
-If more than six chickens are to be kept a conditional use permit is required.

#3 In zoning districts: D-15, D-18

-80% of the residents of a community in a mobile home park, apartment complex, or condominium association and the landlord (if applicable) must approve by signature for a designated community chicken area where chicken zoning rule #1 applies and may be implemented. Otherwise, chicken zoning rule #2 supersedes.

Please support us on our endeavor to make Juneau more sustainable through chicken keeping! We will be presenting our plan to the Sustainability Committee on July 1st.