The Greens live on Elaina Drive in Moorefield Twp.
“It is our standard procedure to send letters of warning before filing a suit,” said Tom Hale, director of the community development for the county. “We didn’t receive any response from them.”
A property that is less than 5 acres is allowed to keep chickens if the structure housing the chickens is more than 50 feet from any property line, according to the county zoning code.
Dana Martin-Green has had her coop of 10 chickens in her backyard for more than a year. She believes a next-door neighbor who has recently moved was the one who alerted the county to her coop.
“They were complaining a few times,” Green said.
The Clark County Community Development Office said many times phone complaints are kept as anonymous tips and Hale didn’t disclose who filed the complaint against the chicken coop.
After a zoning officer came to the house to talk about the violation, Green said she moved her coop 50 feet from the property line of the neighbor, believing that would solve the problem.
“Because we’ve never had any other issues,” Green said. “Nobody’s ever said anything else except for the one neighbors who ended up moving.”
Although the coop was moved from one side of the property line, it is still less than 50 feet from other property lines on the lot, Hale said, and still in violation of county codes.
In other cases where injunctions were filed, Hale said the county and the defendants have worked out the issue and the case was dismissed. With animals such as chickens, it is easier to fix the problem in a rural setting, he said, but in a neighborhood such as the one Green lives in, it is harder to please all concerned parties.
Green said she didn’t know the county had filed a civil case against her, but she would call the Community Development Office to try to work out the code violations.
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