Backyard hens in Regina will not be a reality for now

Regina city council was split on the idea of a backyard hen pilot project in the city.

The motion would have seen city administration bring a report outlining a potential pilot project and a draft bylaw for urban hens. However, the five-to-five tie vote means the motion was defeated.

“Folks are going to keep coming back [to council] until they decide to test the idea,” Coun. Shanon Zachidniak, who put forward the original motion, told reporters after the meeting.

More than a dozen delegates wrote submissions or presented to councillors Wednesday.

An online petition has also garnered more than 2,000 signatures.

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“The amount of support for this has been overwhelming,” said Zachidniak.

Zachidnaik’s original motion included a pilot project idea that would have seen three to six hens could be kept at 20 locations across the city.

Under her proposed motion, city administration would try and ensure there would be two locations per ward.

Before being defeated, the motion was amended to allow administration to bring a report back to council in October of what the pilot and draft bylaw could look like.

“I can understand why many folks are frustrated with council and democracy when they feel their elected officials don’t listen to them,” Zachidniak said. “[The vote] says to them your elected officials aren’t listening.”

Mayor Sandra Masters, along with councillors Hawkins, Findura, Bresciani and Mohl, voted against tasking administration with the report.

“We’ve got some pretty big issues as a city,” Master said following Wednesday’s meeting. “Just at this point in time, we got some [other] things we’ve got to move.”

Some councillors brought forward concerns of disease and predators making their way into residents’ backyards.

“In my area of town, coyotes are a huge problem,” said ward 4 coun. Lori Bresciani. “I know they are drawn to chickens, I grew up on a farm.”

“There is a zoonotic danger with avian flu,” said ward 2 coun. Bob Hawkins. “It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it is tragic.”

“Given our lack of expertise as a city in dealing with this sort of thing, there is a huge risk I am not willing to take on,” he added.

“There are ways to address any concerns because many municipalities are already doing this,” Zachidniak responded.

More than 40 other Canadian municipalities allow backyard hens in some capacity.

“Sometimes we want to lift and shift,” Masters said. “This doesn’t mean the work can’t be done but right now, we want administration focused on the volume of what they’ve got before them.”

Zachidniak told reporters following the vote she hasn’t confirmed herself to run for council in this fall’s election, but this has stewed a new fire for her.

“If I’m re-elected, I’m committed to bringing this motion back after the next election,” she added. “I’m happy to be apart of those efforts to continuing pushing council to move forward to at least consider this idea.”