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Board OKs chicken coop at 220 South Street, limits flock to eight hens and bans roosters
Summary
After hearing presentation and one neighbor objection, the Portsmouth Board of Adjustment approved Christina Logan’s request to keep up to eight hens at 220 South Street, requiring no roosters and noting coop specifications and odor-control practices described by the applicant.
The Portsmouth Board of Adjustment on April 28 granted a special exception allowing Christina Logan to keep up to eight hens at 220 South Street, with a condition prohibiting roosters.
Logan and Michael Graph told the board they intended to keep chickens as household pets and egg layers only, described an approximately 8-by-12-foot coop not to exceed 10 feet at the peak, and said they planned to use a deep-pine-bedding composting system to control odor and recycle manure into their garden. "We simply eat a lot of eggs and we'd like to keep a few chickens in our backyard," Logan said during her presentation.
Board members asked about free-ranging, heating and electrification, and neighborhood impacts. Logan said chickens would be kept in a fenced run and housed at night; she said the coop would use passive methods and possibly small solar devices rather than electrical heat. Staff and members discussed that a rooster would not be part of the plan.
One nearby resident, Rachel Rush of 232 South Street, spoke in opposition citing concerns about odor and predators. "I'm the opposing neighbor to the chickens," she said, asking whether pine bedding would sufficiently eliminate smell and noting concerns about skunks and raccoons.
After deliberation the board moved to grant the special exception with the conditions stated in the application and the explicit stipulation that no rooster be kept. The motion passed unanimously, with the clerk's roll-call showing all members voting yes.
The board noted that because the proposed accessory structure is small it does not require a building permit in this instance, and members said they were satisfied by the applicant's plan for odor control and predator protection. The special exception was recorded as approved at the meeting.
The approval allows Logan to keep up to eight hens for personal egg use, subject to the conditions discussed and any other standard ordinances governing animal keeping.
