No roosters in the henhouse on Fowlers Road

By Craig Westcott

You can have the hens, but you can’t have a rooster.
It wasn’t put as bluntly as that, but that’s the bottom-line response to an application by a resident of 43 Fowlers Road, Chamberlains who asked permission from CBS town council to keep a hobby farm.
Ward 3 councillor Gerard Tilly said the resident will be allowed to keep nine chickens but with several conditions. The applicant must submit a manure management plan, register the farm with the Province’s farm registration identification program, obtain permits for the henhouse and any other structures related to the keeping of chickens, and that no roosters be permitted on the property.
“We don’t have any issue with the hobby farm provided that there is no rooster on the property,” Tilley said. “And for the record, it’s not that we don’t like roosters, but that’s part of the regulations and roosters are not allowed under the regulations.”
That remark drew a few giggles and grins.
“Noted, that councillor Tilley is unopposed to roosters generally, just when it comes to backyards,” said Mayor Darrin Bent, smiling.
In other development news:
An application to subdivide land at 5 – 9 Stanleys Road in Long Pond has been approved, but without the developer’s request for variances for all of the lots.
Council ruled the applicant can apportion the land into three building lots and that one of the lots can have a reduced frontage of 13.9 metres instead of the standard 15 metres. But the request for variances on the building line setback for the two other lots was refused.
Tilley said a shorter setback on those lots isn’t necessary because the existing regulation won’t prejudice their development.
And finally, council has approved the opening of a massage therapy clinic at 674 Conception Bay Highway in Kelligrews. That’s the same building that houses the Just for Men barbershop.
“This is considered discretionary under our zoning,” said Tilley. “We did have a public notice (published) and we had no real concerns raised by the public so staff is welcoming the new business to Conception Bay South.”