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bodhipooh t1_j5bin6f wrote

Slow your roll, my man... before people get ideas and don't bother looking into the details, there are several legal requirements that must be satisfied before someone can legally keep chickens in JC. Here is a link to the municipal code section dealing with chickens:

https://library.municode.com/nj/jersey_city/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=CH90AN_ARTIIBIPO

Basically, you need a license, and a chicken coop can not be within 25 feet of another structure in which people reside, work, or get together. Given the housing density in JC, that proximity restriction would disqualify most people from being able to keep chickens.

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spypol t1_j5bm2qj wrote

Those laws don’t apply if your coop is either on a crosswalk or a bike lane though.

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pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j5bpa3t wrote

You can definitely hear roosters from various parts of JC in the morning. So someone's got birds in their backyard. Likely more than one.

I don't think there's any enforcement. There's meetups of urban dwellers who do it in Brooklyn (not sure the legality there). It's been a hipster thing for years.

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bodhipooh t1_j5d488h wrote

The lack of enforcement does not mean that it is legal. In JC, keeping poultry is definitely much more regulated than in NYC. The regulations in NYC with regards to chicken are quite lenient: there are no restrictions on quantity or space/distance (except for poultry markets, which must keep 25 feet) - the only restriction in NYC is no roosters. As for other poultry, duck and geese are not allowed. Compare that to JC, which has regulations dictating distance restrictions, amount of chicken that can be kept, and licensing requirements. But, of course, this being JC, there is ZERO enforcement, so there’s that.

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Ilanaspax t1_j5bq62y wrote

How does the chicken coop against low fidelity’s backyard get around this?

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Brudesandwich OP t1_j5btvbb wrote

They have a license and meet all the requirements apparently. I remember reading that a neighbor may give written consent to allow it thought i can no longer find where i got the info from so don't quote me. They operate well within the law apparently, they have been open and selling eggs for years.

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bodhipooh t1_j5d333v wrote

That thing about getting approval from neighbors is actually laid out in the municipal code, but only with regards to pigeons.

I’m not sure about the chicken coop behind LoFi, but it could be that it was there before the municipal code was enacted or modified, so it would have been "grandfathered in" as is the norm with many other regulations.

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Ilanaspax t1_j5ey1zg wrote

I ask because if you’ve ever been sat in the backyard you’ll notice plenty of mice/rats running around in the bushes at the end of the yard and it’s clearly a result of them being attracted by whatever the chickens are being fed on the other side of the fence. I can’t imagine being okay with that as a neighbor if you’re trying to run a business…

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bodhipooh t1_j5ezu7j wrote

Honestly, I have NO IDEA how they are getting away with it. If it is that bad that mice and rats are running around, I am really surprised that LoFi is putting up with it. But, what you describe is precisely why people are often not cool with chickens and other farm livestock kept within city limits or in close proximity to where they live. And, by the way, I say that as someone who 100% would love to keep some animals. Growing up, my paternal grandpa ran a small farm and so I got to spend a lot of time around chickens, rabbits, and pigs. Those are some fond memories, but I totally get why people would be opposed to chickens living close by.

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Brudesandwich OP t1_j5du2wd wrote

Again the one link linked is dated in 1978. Around 2011 the city council was revising the ordinance to be more lenient. I don't know of that passed but that's the "law" I was thinking of.

Secondly, the coop behind LoFi has only been there a few years. They been around since 2012. A year after the article I posted

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bodhipooh t1_j5dy6ob wrote

The municode site includes all changes, including very recent ones. I’m not sure how they do it, but they manage to publish ordinances and code changes before any other source I have seen. The most recent changes to the published JC municipal code are from last month (December 2022) - the only relatively recent changes dealing with regulations around chicken are from 2015, and it's only stuff about the cost of licenses. The council may have had debates or discussions about chicken regulations back in. 2011, but no code changes were adopted.

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Brudesandwich OP t1_j5bvvbv wrote

Just found the news article about it from 2011: https://www.nj.com/hudson/2011/01/city_of_jersey_city_encouragin.html

>Current zoning rules permit residents to keep fewer than 50 chickens no less than 25 feet away from any structure used for human habitation.

>Although it's one "one of the most lenient chicken laws" in the state, according to Marione-Stanton, the city wants to make it even easier to keep and raise the little cluckers.

>The proposed revision would allow residents to keep one to seven chickens within 25 feet of a neighbor's property as long as the neighbor signs an affidavit of consent. Anyone wishing to house eight to 20 chickens would have to keep them 40 feet away from neighbors.

I don't know if the laws have been updated or if this was passed but I would assume it did if the coop behind Lo-Fi is able to operate.

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Brudesandwich OP t1_j5bwsdb wrote

Just found the news article about it from 2011: https://www.nj.com/hudson/2011/01/city_of_jersey_city_encouragin.html

>Current zoning rules permit residents to keep fewer than 50 chickens no less than 25 feet away from any structure used for human habitation.

>Although it's one "one of the most lenient chicken laws" in the state, according to Marione-Stanton, the city wants to make it even easier to keep and raise the little cluckers.

>The proposed revision would allow residents to keep one to seven chickens within 25 feet of a neighbor's property as long as the neighbor signs an affidavit of consent. Anyone wishing to house eight to 20 chickens would have to keep them 40 feet away from neighbors.

I don't know if the laws have been updated or if this was passed but I would assume it did if the coop behind Lo-Fi is able to operate.

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Brudesandwich OP t1_j5bmxls wrote

Yes I know of the policies on it and while we are very dense it doesn't make it impossible for people to have their own chicken coop if they have a backyard, especially areas outside of downtown. And I could be mistaken but I recall reading that if a person has written consent from their neighbors approving the coop if the 25 ft limit cannot be met. The link you posted dates the ordinance is dated from 1978, I recall the city council updated or were looking into updating the ordinance to promote more urban farms within JC.

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