O'Hara resident threatened with fines implores township to reconsider chicken ordinance

One O’Hara man is calling foul on a township ordinance that bans chickens.

Dan Meinert, an O’Hara resident of 61 years, said he has had chickens in his yard for a decade. They’re like pets, and popular with his neighbors, with whom he shares fresh eggs, Meinert said.

“We have the chickens to get the eggs, because we like to know where our food comes from,” he said. “The eggs are much healthier than the ones you get at the store.”

Meinert said he had never gotten a complaint about his 11 chickens — until June 29, when he got a letter from the township telling him to remove the flock or face $500 in fines each day.

Though he’d had the chickens for 10 years, Meinert said he was unaware that keeping chickens in O’Hara violates a township ordinance.

“Our zoning ordinance does not permit farm animals on residential properties and has been that way for several years,” Township Manager Julie Jakubec said.

After relocating his chickens to a friend’s property, Meinert said, he is now urging local officials to reconsider the ordinance.

“I’m not the only one who wants chickens,” he said, adding that he believed others in the township also owned chickens without realizing their flocks weren’t allowed.

Township officials told Meinert a neighbor recently alerted them to his chickens, which is why they threatened to impose fines this summer, Meinert said.

“There’s no reason not to have chickens,” he said. “There’s no smell from them. I keep them penned up. They’ve never gotten loose and gotten into anyone else’s yard.”

The planning commission is slated to discuss the issue during their next meeting on Sept. 20. The meeting will be held via Zoom.

“It’s a very complicated issue,” Jakubec said, explaining that the township delved into the problem in 2019 prior to amending local ordinances in 2020. “We had heard from folks on both sides of the issue back in ‘19, some folks wishing to have chickens and some folks wishing their neighbors not to because of various reasons.”

But Meinert said he’s hopeful that local officials will amend the ordinance and allow him to bring his flock back to his home.

“I’d like to see them change their ordinances to be more in line with other communities in the area, including the City of Pittsburgh,” he said.

Under Pittsburgh’s urban agriculture zoning conditions, residents who have enough property can own chickens and even goats.

McCandless in August passed a new ordinance permitting chickens, and a lawsuit last summer granted residents of Fayette County the right to keep pet chickens.