North Huntingdon: Vote pending on backyard chickens for two residents

The latest chapter in whether North Huntingdon residents are permitted to raise chickens could end next week.

Commissioners are likely to vote on a request from Megan Jovar of Lancelot Drive for a conditional-use permit to keep the seven hens she has in her backyard and a request from Sarah Helzlsouer of Adams Drive to move her six chickens from Elizabeth Township to the township, said Commissioner Zachary Haigis, president of the board.

The conditional-use permit is required to keep chickens on property zoned for residential use, with minimum lot sizes ranging from 10,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet.

Helzlsouer told the commissioners during a hearing Thursday she has had hens the past two years at her former residence and wants to bring them to her new home.

“I like to keep them as pets. They’re my girls,” Helzlsouer said.

Helzlsouer said she keeps the hens inside a coop with a corrugated roof and removes the manure and disposes of it with her other trash.

Tom Brasnick of Roth Drive, whose property is near Helzlsouer’s, said he is concerned the coop would attract rats, foxes and mice.

Heather Kanai of Roth Drive said she did not want to see a corrugated roof on the pen. Kanai questioned whether the middle of a housing plan “was the best place for chickens.”

Upon questioning from Commissioner Eric Gass, Helzlsouer said she would consider placing a shingled roof on the pen.

Haigis complimented Helzlsouer on being the first resident who applied for a permit to keep chickens before doing it.

Jovar told the commissioners last month her physician recommended she keep chickens because they provide her with emotional support. She told commissioners she wants to keep hens in a coop in her backyard.