Our next council member of the week is our Vice-Mayor, Louis Jones. Here is his information.
Work: (757) 583-0177
Home: (757) 464-2151
lrjones@VBgov.com
Please be ever so kind as to email him with whatever it is you would like him to know about your thoughts and feelings on the subject of backyard chickens!
Please post whatever comments and feedback you may receive from him so we may all compare notes! Thank you for your support in this very important chicken matter!!
I emailed the mayor, Will Sessoms, a couple times last week. While I did NOT receive an email response this time….I did get a phone call. I will copy/paste the email I sent him.
Dear Mayor Sessoms,
Dear Mr. Sessoms,
I appreciate your phone call in regard to the email I sent you yesterday. Thank you for your time. What I meant when I say “generic response” is you only say you do not support backyard chickens. Okay. You have stated that several times. The question I would like answered is why? What is your beliefs about backyard chickens? Do you realize the positive impact they would have on the environment? They eat almost all kitchen scraps that would otherwise make it into the trash and dumps. They eat mosquitos, which the city pays, I assume, a rather large amount of money, to kill every year. I have sent quite a bit of educational FACTUAL material to you and other council members. The first response from most people, quite frankly, is that they stink. That, Mr. Sessoms, is NOT true. The second thing most people say is they are noisy, again, that is also NOT true. Roosters are noisy. They are VERY loud while laying hens are quiet and entertaining.
I invite you to my home to come see for yourself. My set up may change your mind about backyard hens. It may not, either way, come see for yourself. I would also like to assure you that no one I know (and there are MANY) wants to have more than 8 chickens. Most of those people only want 3-6 hens as pets. As you know, I have quite a few more than that. My point is, even with my larger number of laying hens, there is no offensive smell or noise.
Thank you, again, for your time and consideration!
Tracy Gugal-Okroy
513-7825
Dear Vice Mayor Jones;
I write in support of legal micro-flocks, also known as pet chickens, in Virginia Beach. Despite false beliefs to the contrary, pet chickens are quiet, do not wander, are not vicious or likely to carry zoonotic microbes. They are environmentally friendly, amusing, easy to keep. There is no evidence to suggest that pet chickens have adverse effect on property values. Please consider this issue in view of facts and with an open mind toward the wishes of your constituents.
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I emailed all city council members this morning and this is the response I got from Mr. Bill DeSteph. Very interesting!!
Charles,
I agree with you. It is actually something that we really do not enforce unless there is a few complaints.
Warmest regards,
Bill
From: “barney1946@aol.com”
Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2012 10:21 AM
To: “William D. Sessoms” , “Louis R. Jones” , “Rosemary C. Wilson” , John Moss , Bill Desteph , “Glenn R. Davis” , Harry Diezel , Barbara Henley , John Uhrin , “Honerable James L. Wood”
Subject: Back yard chickens
I would like very much to have a few back yard chickens of my own. I understand the city of Virginia Beach does not allow this. This is something ,in my belief , that should be allowed to happen. Chickens are as much a part of Americana as Mom, Apple Pie and Baseball. VR, Charles W. Gugal