The Tampa City Council on Thursday voted on Thursday to conduct a workshop next month on revisiting and possibly changing the 21-year-old code that regulates chickens, which are quite prevalent in various parts of the city.
As Zoning Administrator Catherine Coyle told the Council, there is a provision in the city's current code that addresses farm animals. That law contains specific requirements that essentially make it illegal for anyone to raise a chicken (or horse or pig) at a distance of 200 feet or less from another residence.
But he said there is an urban farming movement across the country that encourages raising such animals. "One of the big questions is whether to coop the chickens or allow them to run free," she said, with some communities favoring the cooped-up method.
This article appears in Mar 15-21, 2012.