Oxford’s Planning Commission spent much of its latest meeting last night wrestling with an unexpectedly complicated question: should residents be allowed to keep backyard chickens?
The town currently has no specific backyard chicken ordinance, and commissioners said the zoning code is unclear. While the definition of agriculture includes poultry, the provisions governing rural residential areas specifically refer to growing agricultural crops. That ambiguity has become more important because the town has received complaints about chickens and has a permit application pending for a shed proposed for use as a chicken coop.
The commission ultimately agreed that chickens should not be allowed in Oxford’s more densely developed areas and will send that recommendation to the Town Commissioners, who will decide whether the code needs clarification.
Commission members raised concerns about enforcement, waste disposal, disease, and predators, as well as whether allowing chickens could eventually raise questions about ducks, geese, or other animals. One commissioner described the potential attraction for the town’s fox population as a “fox buffet.” Another noted that other communities have successfully regulated backyard chickens but said Oxford lacks the same enforcement resources.
The final recommendation was somewhat narrower than an outright town-wide ban. Commissioners said the existing code could be read as allowing only crop production in rural residential areas, leaving the Town Commissioners to determine whether chickens should explicitly be permitted there. But the Planning Commission was clear that it did not believe chickens belonged in Oxford’s intensely developed neighborhoods.
In other business, the commission reported movement on repairs to the Robert Morris Inn.
The town received a permit application Sept. 23, arranged a third-party inspection the following day and provided the inspection report to the contractor and property owner Sept. 28. The town is now waiting for the contractor to pick up the permits so temporary stabilization can begin, with the immediate goal of preventing the historic building’s condition from deteriorating further while additional repairs are evaluated.
The announcement also prompted a defense of the town’s handling of the property. The commission chair recalled the controversy that followed an earlier request from the owner to explore zoning changes that might allow condominiums or townhouses at the site. She said the commission had only agreed to examine the implications of such a change and emphasized that Oxford’s long-range plan specifically supports historic preservation and rehabilitation of the Robert Morris Inn.
Watch the full meeting here.
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