Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Zoning Variance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Amherst Zoning Board deliberates chicken-keeping variance; applicant absent
Summary
The Amherst Zoning Board of Appeals reviewed a request from Ryan Banyas to keep 13 fowl on a lot under 1 acre. The applicant was absent; the board entered deliberative session and no public decision on the variance was recorded. The meeting approved minutes and adjourned.
The Amherst Zoning Board of Appeals met Dec. 17, 2025, to consider a variance request from resident Ryan Banyas to keep 13 fowl on a property of less than one acre. The applicant did not appear; board members discussed whether Banyas had established a nonconforming use and then moved into deliberative session with no public decision on the variance recorded.
The request, introduced by the chair, seeks permission to exceed the code limit cited in the meeting (transcribed as "Chapter 505.13(a)(4)") that the board discussed as allowing no more than four fowl in an R‑1 district on parcels under one acre. The item had been tabled from the Nov. 19, 2025 meeting for additional information.
Board members said they had received no substantive communication from the applicant since the prior meeting. "We sent him the information about the meeting," staff member Tammy said, and board members confirmed there had been no response.
Discussion focused on whether Banyas had a continuous, longstanding use that would qualify as a legal nonconforming use. A board member said the burden lies with the applicant "to demonstrate that it's a nonconforming use," noting the applicant had previously "claims he has had fowl for 12 years" but had not shown the same birds were present for that entire period.
Mister Graglia questioned the applicant's claim on statistical grounds: "It would be virtually impossible for all these chickens...to all have lived at least 10 years," he said, arguing that turnover in birds would undercut a continuous-use defense.
After discussion the board voted to go into deliberative session. The chair announced a roll-call vote to enter deliberation; Mr. Anderson moved, Mr. Jeffries seconded, and the vote carried. The board later reconvened public session, approved the Nov. 19 minutes by voice vote after a motion from Mr. Balaji and a second from Mr. Jeffries, and then adjourned.
No public vote on the variance appears in the meeting transcript. The board scheduled its next meeting for Jan. 28, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.
Votes at a glance - Motion to enter deliberative session: moved by Mister Anderson; seconded by Mister Jeffries; roll-call votes recorded as yes from Anderson, Jeffries, Miss Noble, Mister Tomaszewski and Mister Balaji; outcome: approved. - Motion to approve minutes (11/19/2025): moved by Mister Balaji; seconded by Mister Jeffries; voice vote; outcome: approved. - Motion to adjourn: moved by Miss Noble; seconded by Mister Jeffries; voice vote; outcome: approved.
