A couple in Lake Ann are fighting to keep their chickens on their property, and the issue has ruffled some feathers on the Homeowners Association board.
Back in June, Rachael Brehler was at Tractor Supply Co. and on a spontaneous buy she brought home four hens – Waddles, Cheetah Bird, Ruby and Karen.
Her fiancé, Mitchell Park, wanted to make sure they could have chickens in their condominium.
“I read through the bylaws which is like 100 and some pages to go through and it said that, yeah, you can have chickens or it says you can have pet dogs, cats and birds and I go, well, these are birds so it’s okay,” says Park.
Park says they started building the chicken coop when their neighbor, Homeowner Association President Bob Dodge, stopped the project.
A letter was sent June 17 explaining that the chicken coop and the pets were not approved by the Windtree Oaks Board.
Bill Hodges, Windtree Oaks Secretary, writes that the chicken coop is covered and addressed in the Homeowners manual that, ‘no animal of any kind shall be raised, kept or permitted upon the property or any part thereof other than dogs, cats and birds.’
The letter continues, ‘Although, the above covenant refers to the allowance of pets, including birds. The consensus and determination of the Board of Directors is, that chickens fall under that definition of Livestock.’
In Section 7 of the bylaws, it reads: ‘No animals of any kind shall be raised, kept or permitted upon the property or any part thereof other than dogs, cats and birds. Such animals are not to be kept, bred of raised for commercial purposes or in unreasonable numbers, and are to be reasonably controlled to avoid their being a nuisance to other lot owners. Pets shall not be allowed to run free. All animals shall be subject to such rules and regulations as the Association shall from time to time adopt.’
Brehler and Park say after they got the chickens a resolution was made to change the bylaw. Households in the neighborhood received a letter stating the change.
“They were changing it, specifically the bylaw about the animals,” says Brehler. “The cats, dogs and birds they said well you basically can have any kind of cat as long as it’s not an exotic cat, any kind of dog not a wolf breed, and then chickens, there was a list of all these kinds of birds, so it’s like birds and then a list of all the birds that you can’t have, and of course, chickens.”
Brehler and Park have retained a lawyer to respond to two of three letters sent by the HOA.
In the second letter, the Board of Directors threatened legal action if the issue of the four hens and chicken coop were not resolved.
Also in the second letter, the HOA board outlines the Almira Township (their governing body) zoning ordinance that says animals such as poultry are not allowed on properties less than one acre in size.
Brehler and Park own property less than the required size. So, they signed a lease agreement with a neighbor for .14 of an acre in order to comply.
The township also granted a permit for the chicken coop after zoning administrator, Roger Williams, received several complaints about the chickens on the property.
Supervisor Mark Roper worked with the couple to find a solution, leading to the lease.
“HOA could do anything at this point but we should be in legal standing there,” says Park. “Now we’re just kind of sitting but we wanna get the Township [zoning ordinance] changed so we’re not dependent on that lease and so it’s up to date with Traverse City which makes it super easy to have chickens because most people nowadays, especially with housing, having an acre that’s a lot of land.”
Traverse City changed their ordinance in 2009, Long Lake changed theirs in 2012 and Empire also changed their ordinance regarding having chickens on properties.
The next step is for Park and Brehler to take their cause to the Almira Township Planning Commission and ask that the ordinance be changed.
“I think that’ll be good and then would just give us that much more of a backbone,” says Brehler. “We could let our neighbor off too that’s been leasing the land.”
As for what can be done about the HOA bylaws, that is unclear. 9&10 reached out to members of the Board of Directors and they would not comment. The HOA lawyer did not respond before deadline.
“I don’t want anyone to go through what we’ve gone through to have chickens,” says Brehler. “It’s our first home together and quiet a terrible experience in dealing with the homeowners association it’s really been deflating when you think about neighbors and how there’s no cup of sugar coming.”
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