Like all the geese at Garden Lakes... didn't the city put them there intentionally? I'm hearing the dogs a few streets over barking right now... it doesn't bother me, but surely neighbors find the noise more bothersome than four relatively quiet hens?

Thanks for the support.

You never "have to read this bull". You are reading and commenting on here by choice. You do know that, right? Also, oldnewswoman is correct in her post about Rome and it's people. I wonder how many of you on here blasting these families that have a few chickens even own your homes. More than likely, considering the job and housing market in Rome, I'm guessing that most of you are renters. If this is the case, you may want to check yourself when telling property owners that they need to move. If it were that easy, Rome would be 35% deserted and West Rome could ooze its way across the whole town.

You are free to choose not to read any of it. Way to make people feel welcome in Rome. Do you know I have actually had an opposed neighbor go out of his way to drive past my house and lay on the horn as he passed? Just because I want to see a law changed with reasonable restrictions, my family gets harassed and gets ugly anonymous comments online. As silly as I might think some of your beliefs are, I would never go online and call your thoughts "crap."

You are also free to contact the newspaper and tell them you are sick of them covering it. I haven't asked them to write stories. I'm not showing the chicken documentary. Obviously there are other people who don't think it is "crap."

Four hens is not the same as a farm. Birds only carry five diseases that are transmittable to humans, whereas dogs carry 21 and cats carry 22 that can be transmitted to humans. Maybe I should move to Dunwoody, GA or the city of Atlanta rather than the country, where a few backyard hens are totally fine and part of life. This certainly isn't a "country" issue if you look at nationwide trends.

I can demonstrate that my four hens are less of a nuisance than barking dogs and are not even noticeable by my neighbors.

By the way, I grew up in Sandy Springs, GA - suburb of Atlanta - and Rome *is* the country to me, ha ha! :)

Maybe they should raise chickens in their living room where the dogs and cats live, with the smells and salmonella..that way the neighbors don't have to deal with them!

eribeck79 -- I very much agree with you. Since you are not a "true" Roman you cannot begin to understand how very special, sensitive & empirical true Romans are. Somehow the fowl have offended the delicate sensibilities of some of Rome's hierarchy. All things happening within the fragile confines of this snobby but underhanded, dirty little backwater swamp are decided by a handful of quiet citizens. This group sends word down to the hired help (commissioners, sheriff, law enforcement, etc.) as to what is to be done in any slightly contentious situation. Obviously, the "group" is also split on this & that is why a decision has not come down from on high. My vote is with the chickens.

Useurhead, there are no smells experienced by neighbors with four hens. Just as my living room is my own property, so is my backyard. My fenced in backyard. If you use your head, and your nose, you will figure out that four chickens don't make a stink to the neighbors. One dog makes as much waste as ten hens, and dog poop is a far worse smell since they eat meat. Maybe my neighbors should take their dogs inside too?

The county actually has laws that say chickens must be kept 200 feet from all property lines. It would hardly be affordable for people to just move to a lot of this size in the county just to have a few hens. The laws in the city have no "punishment" or fine associated with chicken-keeping - the laws essentially say that if a neighbor reports you, you get a letter saying to remove your fowl (it actually says to remove your "foul" from your property) within a certain time frame or else they will put liens on your property. I would like to see the laws on dogs running at large enforced, but animal control won't help unless the dog happens to still be on your property by the time they get there hours later.

If I had two homes in Maplewood I would attempt to take your challenge; however, I do not have the means to do this. Please research towns with some of the highest property values nationwide and see that they allow chickens. As noted to another commentor, the city of Atlanta and Dunwoody, GA allow backyard hens. Dunwoody is a very affluent community near Atlanta. They don't seem to be having propblems maintaining property values. If you cannot see, hear, or smell the chickens, then how do they reduce the property values of the neighborhood? If my next door neighbor keeps three large, sometimes loud dogs in his backyard, does that reduce my property values?

Dogs and cats are considered pets. You can take them out for a run, play with them and are considered normal to have. Chickens are farm animals and there is a stigma attached to them of being low class or trashy if located in somebodies yard instead of a farm setting. You cannot take them on a walk though the neighborhood, throw a stick for them to go get or feel comfortable letting them sleep in the same room as your child, thus, making then not a pet. My point is, people consider dogs and cats family pets and consider chicken an animal that should be located on a farm, not a residential neighborhood.

Your point of looking at Dunwoody for property values not being affected means little to me. You cannot look at a city as a whole and say that the property values are not affected by having backyard chickens because the city has so many houses that are very expensive compared to houses that are lower end (real estate price wise).So it would take a good majority of lower end houses to even put a dent in the city wide property value. Do you think that people that have the money to afford/live in expensive houses raise back yard chickens? I am pretty sure that 99.9999% of those people do not. In order to get an accurate account of effect chickens have on property value is to do it on a house to house basis instead of a city as a whole basis. You would have to have an appraiser come in (if you knew that in a few weeks you were having a new neighbor come in that has backyard chickens) appraise your home and then a few weeks later once the back yard chickens moved in and see if the numbers are the same. I doubt they would be the same.

I will ask this in a form of a question instead of a statement, as I did in my last post. Why did you and your family deem it necessary to not abide by the ordiance that was already in place not allowing backyard chickens? Feel like you are above the law and the law doesnt apply to you? didnt feel like asking for a special use permit? Since you knew that chickens arent allowed within the city limits, why not live in the county?

I actually have had my home appraised with the hens in my backyard. It had *gained* value, in a declining housing market. The appraiser did go in my backyard and saw the hens. Clearly they did not cause my property to be devalued. My property was worth more after the hens were on it.

You can look at nationwide trends and you will find that it actually is upper-class families that are jumping on the urban poultry thing. This is not some trash movement. Trashy people will just keep as many chickens as they want and let them roam the streets. People like us want to keep hens responsibly.

I will say it again: the county requires chickens to be 200 feet from any property line. This is because they are assuming only agricultural uses. The urban chicken movement is not something that was anticipated under those laws. Moving to the county would not help because I doubt I could afford a lot with 200 feet from property lines. I also could not have anticipated the urban chicken movement when i moved here over ten yrs ago.

We did inquire with the city before buying hens. My husband asked the planning department what the rules were for chickens, and they told him, basically, that as long as your neighbors don't mind, you should be okay although technically they are not allowed. I also believe that opposing something based merely on "But it's the law!" is not the highest level of moral reasoning. Neighbors who are opposed based on the grounds of, "But they are breaking the law!" are only opposed on those grounds. They are not opposed because of any harm that has come to the neighborhood. They also see this as "the law" as opposed to a codes violation. This is like keeping junky cars on bricks in the front yard or like building a 7 foot fence without requesting a permit, not like theft or assault. When somebody goes against a code that does not cause any ill to come to anybody, then why report them? To cause tension in the neighborhood? To rat them out so you can be "right?" Why not come to a neighbor and voice your concerns instead? I think it is because my neighbors don't have concerns beyond "But it's the law!" They haven't seen any other concerns come to fruition over the years these hens have lived in our yard. They only wanted to oppose them because they heard that they were here, and, by golly, that's not allowed.

Also, just ten years ago, hens were perfectly acceptable in the city limits. The laws can and do change and evolve. Some things are always wrong regardless of laws: it is always wrong for a person to kill another innocent person; It is wrong because it is wrong, not because there is a law about it. Keeping hens on one's property is not objectively right or wrong.

I believe all the commissioners are invited to attend free of charge. I can understand that this may cost some money to put on, which is why admission is being charged.

I would welcome anyone who wants to see what real-live backyard chickens in a city neighborhood are like to come see mine, free of charge. I want people to be able to see and know what it is they are supporting or are opposing.