Mon July 15: This One's for the Birds

Plus: Thefts from unlocked vehicles, Grey County Council highlights, and follow-up from a serious collision in Owen Sound

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Photo by Ben Moreland on Unsplash

Good news for those looking to keep backyard hens and produce their own eggs – at least for our readers in Georgian Bluffs.

The township joins Meaford in allowing backyard hens (no roosters) after public outreach last year found that 74% of 250 residents surveyed were in favour of doing so.

Further, 189 of those people said the top reason to keep chickens was that it’s part of a sustainable lifestyle.

Georgian Bluffs residents with at least half an acre of property now have permission to keep up to six hens in their backyards.

You can find the full text of GB’s bylaw here, and a quick reference with eligibility, requirements, coop specs, and more here.

Owen Sounders will have to wait.

Currently, backyard chickens are allowed only on properties zoned “agricultural.”

Joel Pennington, a citizen member of the City’s Corporate Service Committee, raised the question in their July 11 meeting last week.

Since Georgian Bluffs is allowed to have backyard hens now, he asked, could this be explored in Owen Sound?

It’s not the first time it’s come up. Angela Freeman suggested it in this 2015 letter to the editor of The Hub, and there are two different groups on Facebook – Backyard Hens in Owen Sound (public) and Owen Sounders for Backyard Hens (private) – where residents meet to discuss the issue.

Deputy Mayor Scott Greig told the committee that City staff explored whether this could be allowed several years ago.

Carol Merton noted that she’s been approached by individuals and groups advocating for backyard hens since it was last explored in 2016, and suggested that perhaps it was time to raise it again and allow other committees to have input. “I think there’s more to be learned,” she said. “Times have changed.”

Indeed.

City Manager Tim Simmonds suggested that it would take a lot of staff time to bring all the information from previous years forward.

“If this is something Committee would like Council to explore, since it’s not on any radar right now, is to bring it back in 2025 during Council and Committee when we’re looking at work plans, rather than trying to do something now.”

For 2024, Simmonds said, “We’re maxed out.”

Things must be dire at City Hall if their plates are so full we cannot even discuss issues in the same year they’re brought up. Bottom line for now:

You can see the full exchange in the Corporate Services recording from July 11, beginning at 1:29:00.

Learn more: Egg-citing News as Georgian Bluffs Welcomes Backyard Chickens, Municipality of Georgian Bluffs

Public Notices

The search for a Bruce County man missing since Canada Day has been called off as South Bruce OPP reports he has been located and is safe.

The Future Owen Sound: Vision 2050 Survey deadline has been extended and it will remain open until the end of this month, according to the City of Owen Sound.

Full subscribers – read on for local news reports including:

• Dozens of charges laid after thefts from Owen Sound vehicles

• A follow-up report from police after a July 7 in-town collision that sent 5 people to hospital

• Grey County Council meeting highlights

• All kinds of local events happening this week in and around Owen Sound

~ Miranda

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