Committee questions Special Use permit requirement for backyard hens as potentially burdensome

City Attorney Tony Schuering told the License, Permit, Zoning and Insurance Committee that the proposed ordinance treats keeping backyard hens as a change in the use of residential property and therefore appropriate for a Special Use permit, enabling outreach to residents and a process for exceptions. "Keeping hens changes the use of a residential property and, under the city's zoning regulations, should therefore be treated as a special use rather than a permitted use," he said.