Ridgewood Resident Proposes a Change for Chicken Coops

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, at last nights Village Council meeting Ridgewood High School Senior Alexander Rule proposed changes to the Village of Ridgewood ordinance Article 3 section 105 -18 in regards to poultry and fowl .

Yes you heard us ,chickens. Alexander a Ridgewood resident  owns 7 chickens for the last 5 years  and looking for changes in the ordinance primarily focused on the location of chicken coops

Alexander went on to extol the virtues of backyard chickens such as organic eggs , chemical free pest control and chicken dropping as fertilizer .

The current ordinance says that no coop is allowed within 75 feet of any living dwelling and 10 feet from the property line . Alexander’s proposed change is to reduce it to 50 feet from any dwelling, but keeping the 10 feet from the property line rule. The idea is to limit the amount of chickens ,which is currently unlimited , to 15 chickens but giving access for more people to own chickens .

Other New Jersey towns like Montclair have adapted similar changes . Both Deputy Mayor Knudsen and Councilwomen Walsh seemed very positive on the changes .