Boston resident to contest city rules preventing backyard chickens

“Basically, keeping chickens in the city of Boston is not allowed,” said Lisa Timberlake, spokeswoman for the city’s inspectional services department, which oversees the appeal board comprised of seven members appointed by the mayor to three-year terms.

While residents can request the city’s permission to raise chickens, the permitting process as currently structured eventually reaches a dead end due to a layer of crisscrossing and overlapping ordinances and regulations.

Zoning officials said each appeal brought before them is handled on a case-by-case basis and declined to rule out the unlikely possibility that the appeal board might rule in Karp’s favor. The decision on Karp’s case will be made at the hearing, officials said.

In order to recive full approval to bring back her three exiled chickens, further OKsl from other city agencies would also likely be required in addition to winning Tuesday's appeal at City Hall.

Such an appeal request is rare, and the only similar hearing in recent memory was brought forth several years ago by an East Boston resident asking permission to have a bird coop in his yard, zoning officials said. That appeal was denied.

But, Karp remains optimistic about tomorrow’s hearing.

“I know people are telling me it’s probably not going to happen. But I’m still hopeful,” she said by phone Monday.

She said she has collected over 400 signatures, including from 125 people who signed an online petition, supporting her request that chickens be considered pets in Boston, instead of their current designation as livestock, which would make owning chickens legal for Hub dwellers.

Karp said she and at least 10 others will present the petition at Tuesday’s hearing, along with written letters of support from around 40 abutters who live within 300 feet of her.