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Volume 73, Number 13 GST Included $1.25 Wednesday March 31, 2010 Newcastle Town Hall Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 Agreement No. 40012366 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 Taxpayer cries `fowl' There will be no chickens laying eggs in Clarington backyards in the foreseeable future. A staff report on the keeping of backyard chickens recommended keeping chickens in Clarington's urban area continue to be banned. According to the report, on the agenda at Monday's Committee meeting, if chickens are permitted to be kept in backyards in urban areas, they must be regulated in order to manage noise, odour, conditions, and to mitigate the transmission of disease. Clarington's Animal Services resources are currently maximized, according to the report, and it is unable to expand its services to include backyard chickens. "By-laws already exist to govern odour, noise and waste removal," Emily Pillinger told Committee members on Monday. "So further regulations would be excessive and unnecessary," she stated. According to Pillinger, it should be her right as a taxpaying citizen to provide for her family, as long as she can do so without infringing on the rights of her neighbours. "Chickens infringe on their rights no more than neighbourhood dogs or cats infringe on mine," she said. The staff report on the keeping of backyard chickens was initiated by a request from Pillinger in November. At that time, she appeared before Weighing-in for a good cause: Members of Newcastle Curves deliver 1,530 lbs. of food to the Clarington East Food Bank Tuesday, following a non-perishable food drive they held over the month of March. council and asked that Clarington's by-laws which only allow for the keeping of chickens on lands zoned agricultural be changed to allow for backyard chickens in the urban area. At that time, she argued that chickens are not like a 600-lb. pig or a half-ton bull, and should not be defined as farm animals. Liability was another concern raised in the staff report. "Chickens are not generally friendly and should a chicken break free of the owner's property they are extremely difficult to catch," according to the report. Heritage breeds of chickens are bred for their temperament as well as their egg-laying ability, according to Pillinger. Unlike chickens housed in rows of battery cages, she says heritage breeds are friendly. Addressing the health issue, Pillinger says chickens are vaccinated against diseases these days, and the Avian flu is spread through wild waterfowl and not domestic chickens. Depending on the degree to which a backyard chicken owner maintains their property, odour could become an issue for neighbouring residents, according to the staff CHICKENS see page 3 What's Inside Channel dredging mired at council Mayor Jim Abernethy warned council members that any delay in denying a request to dredge the channels that service the Port Darlington and Port of Newcastle Marinas would send the wrong signal to boaters. In December, Robert Kreasul, on behalf of over 150 boaters associated with Port Darlington, informed council that the Soper Creek channel from the municipal boat launch was no longer navigable. Kreasul said it was his understanding that the municipality is required to keep the channel navigable from the boat launch to the lake. According to the staff report issued Monday, the municipality does not have the legal responsibility to dredge the channels in the vicinity of the boat launches. The cost of dredging the Port Darlington channel from the public boat launch up to the section owned by the Port Darlington Marina is estimated to cost $40,000 provided the silt would not have to be trucked away, according to the staff report. The estimated cost to dredge the channel at the Port of Newcastle from the municipal boat launch at the Bond Head Parkette is $5,000, provided the silt could be used for beach nourishment on the Bondhead Parkette. Abernethy said he strugDREDGING see page 3 See page 5