County contemplates changes in chicken keeping

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Sarasota County will host public workshops on backyard chicken keeping Aug. 2 in Sarasota and Aug. 3 in Venice.


SARASOTA COUNTY - Sarasota County is considering a change to the regulations in its code affecting backyard chicken keeping in residential zones and will host two public workshops on the topic.

Two workshops are planned to review the proposed code and gather input ahead of public hearings before the Sarasota County Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners, as follows:
  • Public workshop 1: 6 p.m. Aug. 2,
    County Administration Center, 1660 Ringling Blvd., First Floor Commission Chambers, Sarasota 
  • Public workshop 2: 6 p.m. Aug. 3,
    R.L. Anderson Administration Center, 4000 S. Tamiami Trail, Commission Chambers, Venice
  • Planning Commission public hearing: 6:30 p.m. Aug. 18, 
    County Administration Center, 1660 Ringling Blvd., First Floor Commission Chambers, Sarasota
  • Board of County Commissioners, first public hearing: Sept. 20 (time TBD), 
    County Administration Center, 1660 Ringling Blvd., First Floor Commission Chambers, Sarasota
  • Board of County Commissioners, second public hearing: 5:01 p.m. Oct. 10, 
    R.L. Anderson Administration Center, 4000 S. Tamiami Trail, Commission Chambers, Venice
The proposed amendment to the code only affects unincorporated portions of Sarasota County, or areas outside of the city limits of Sarasota, Venice, North Port and the Town of Longboat Key. 
 
The code currently allows the keeping of chickens in Open Use Agriculture (OUA), Open Use Rural (OUR), Open Use Estate (OUE), and in limited situations, Residential Estate (RE) zoning districts.The proposed code would add the keeping of chickens in all RE and Residential Single-Family (RSF) zoning districts, unless otherwise prohibited. 
 
The proposed code will likely contain standards affecting the number of chickens per property, setbacks of coops from property lines, prohibiting the keeping of roosters and potential other standards to be discussed. An additional consideration is being proposed to delay the implementation of backyard chicken keeping in RE and RSF zoning districts to allow homeowner associations with deed restrictions to consider initiating a prohibition of chickens that would supersede this allowance, if they so choose. The proposed code changes can be viewed online atwww.scgov.net/planningservices.
 
 

For more information, call the Sarasota County Contact Center at 941-861-5000 or email planner@scgov.net.

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