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Pasco County board adopts relaxed backyard-chicken rules; permit and mandatory course removed
Summary
The Pasco County Board of County Commissioners approved a code change allowing up to four hens (no roosters) on owner-occupied properties, removed a permit requirement and struck a mandatory UF/IFAS certification course after board direction. The ordinance sets coop size and nuisance controls and permits code-compliance monitoring.
The Pasco County Board of County Commissioners voted to adopt an ordinance allowing residents to keep up to four hens on owner-occupied properties while prohibiting roosters and establishing coop-size, placement and sanitation standards.
Amanda Hill, Planning, Development & Economic Growth, summarized the ordinance’s code changes and said the proposal would create a new article in chapter 14 regulating backyard chickens, coops and disease-management procedures. The ordinance originally included a UF/IFAS certification course and a permit requirement.
Commissioners said they recalled prior direction to remove the permit and questioned whether an educational course should be mandatory. “We as a board, last meeting, specifically in the majority, said remove it,” one commissioner said, and staff agreed to remove the permit and to delete mandatory-course language. Denise Hernandez, code compliance, said staff can keep educational materials available without making completion a precondition for ownership.
After motions to waive introduction and amend the draft to remove the education requirement, the board took a roll-call vote. District 1 Commissioner Oakley, District 2 Commissioner Wakeman, District 4 Commissioner Yeager, District 5 Commissioner Mariano and Chairman Starkey voted to adopt the ordinance.
The adopted code requires owners to keep coops in rear or side yards, maintain them to avoid nuisance conditions, and allows code compliance inspections with reasonable notice. Staff noted most neighboring jurisdictions do not require permits and that Pasco’s proposed limits on birds and coop sizes are “middle of the pack.”
The ordinance will be incorporated into the Pasco County Code of Ordinances; staff said they will update public-facing materials to suggest (but not require) the UF/IFAS educational course for first-time chicken owners.
The board’s action completes a long-running community request to normalize backyard hens while removing administrative hurdles.
