Ten years after Burnaby adopted recommendations to ban chickens on residential properties, city staff is officially seeking council permission to re-examine the issue.
At the same time, the city is looking at ways it can facilitate more community gardens in Burnaby.
The request hasn’t yet made it to council, but a report on the matter from the director of planning and building, Ed Kozak, was recently submitted to the social planning committee. That report follows a number of letters sent to the city by chicken owners and their neighbours asking the city to reconsider its restrictions on chickens.
While council initially opted not to act on those letters, Burnaby Greens Coun. Joe Keithley asked for the matter to be put to the social planning committee more broadly as a food security issue.
“Food security is a very important issue, as we have seen interruptions in our food supply chain during the COVID pandemic. I believe our council has to take this very seriously and take a look at food security from all angles,” Keithley said in a May council meeting.
According to the staff report to the social planning committee, the BC Centre for Disease Control estimates 12.7% of British Columbians don’t have adequate access to food.
“This experience has become more acute as a result of the COVlD-19 pandemic. In Burnaby approximately 3,200 people a week are seeking support via the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and their community affiliates,” staff wrote in the report.
In 2010, staff recommended the city ban backyard chickens, citing concerns around noise and the potential for spreading disease or attracting pests. Since then, however, several urban municipalities in B.C. have adopted regulations that allow chickens on residential properties, with some limits.
That includes North Vancouver (city and district), New Westminster, Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria.
Citing the “evolving landscape and a growing interest by Burnaby residents to keep chickens,” staff suggested the city should have another look at the issue. If this is approved, staff would look into the experiences of other municipalities with backyard chickens and best practices for keeping chickens.
Staff further suggested the city could look at expanding the number of community gardens in the community. Currently there are two on city property (the Heights Community Garden and the Burnaby and Region Allotment Garden) and 11 on elementary and secondary school properties, although these mostly function as “learning gardens.”
Staff noted residents are allowed to grow food in gardens on their own property, and multi-family developments may include “edible landscaping.”
“The development of further community gardens in Burnaby has been hampered by the lack of availability of suitable land. Open space park land in Burnaby has competing demands, and the dedication of open space park land for community gardens could be perceived to benefit only garden plot holders,” staff wrote.
Beyond that, available land is either privately owned, contaminated, earmarked for other purposes or unusable due to utility rights of way.
Staff said another report will be prepared for the committee to develop recommendations for how the city can create more community gardens.
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