OLDS — Town of Olds' council has approved – with conditions -- a chicken coop installed by applicant/owner Rudy Van der Toorn.
He plans to raise six hens in and out of his garage at 4829 46th St. (Highway 27).
In the midst of that discussion, Coun. James Cummings raised a concern that could drastically affect chicken-raisers.
Cummings said he’d heard that laws by senior levels of government say that if a domestic chicken in a municipality is found to have avian influenza or any disease like that, all chickens within a 100-kilometre radius must be destroyed.
He asked municipal land use planner Kyle Sloan if there are any commercial chicken-producing facilities within a 100-kilometre radius of Olds or a portion of the town.
Sloan said he didn’t know the answer to that question.
The Albertan has confirmed that there are chicken-producing facilities within a 100-kilometre radius of Olds, some of which have already had avian flu on their premises, had their birds destroyed and restrictions placed on movement of products from their premises. Backyard hens in Olds were not included in any restrictions because of these incidents.
Cummings said “I was at two separate briefings at Alberta Municipalities and FCM (the Federation of Canadian Municipalities) about this issue and the chicken growers association were very concerned about that,” Cummings said.
“Now I wasn’t here on previous council when this bylaw was created, so I’m not sure if that was ever investigated. I see someone in the audience going ‘I know the answer to that,’ but it’s something that I think that we need to know,” Cummings said.
“I don’t know how many chicken coops are in town anymore, but it is a very serious issue that was brought up by some rather significant agricultural businesses in our province.
“And I would like to know an answer to that at some point so we can be aware of that type of major issue to our agricultural hub, which we are.”
Mayor Judy Dahl expressed confidence that Sloan will “look into that in the future for us.”
The Albertan contacted the province’s ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation for comment regarding Cummings’ concerns. Press secretary Darby Crouch responded.
"In the case of avian influenza, the birds at the infected premises are destroyed, properly disposed of, and a thorough cleaning and disinfecting process takes place. A control zone is established around each farm to control movements from farms near the infected farm. A perimeter mostly based on roadways is established, which is approximately 10 kilometres," Crouch wrote in an email.
"Therefore, to answer your question, chickens within 100 kilometres are not destroyed, only the birds of the infected site."
As for Van der Toorn’s chicken-raising development permit application, Sloan said he planned to locate the coop in a 3.7-square metre space in his garage and via a door, the chickens will have access to an adjacent 6.3 square metre outdoor run.
Those dimensions are larger than the requirement in the town bylaw.
So at the recommendation of planning staff, council approved the development permit application if Van der Toon meets nine conditions.
Those conditions include that the total floor area of the coop can be no larger than 10 square metres and that the chicken run must be a minimum of one metre away from the rear and side property lines.
Another provision is that the size of the coop cannot be expanded.
Council was told that adjacent property owners were notified of the application. At the time a memo on the matter was written, administrative staff had not received any comments regarding the plan.
