Roberts Creek will have the same chance as the other rural areas in the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) to weigh in on the issue of rooster control.
SCRD directors threw out a proposed rooster control bylaw in September, but voted to send a staff report on the issue to advisory planning commissions (APC) in the rural areas for feedback.
At the time, Roberts Creek director Donna Shugar asked staff to leave her area out of the referral loop, since the draft bylaw was “ill-considered on a number of fronts.”
Last week, however, Shugar said the responses from other areas’ APCs, which were contained in the Nov. 20 planning and development committee agenda package, showed they had received a different staff report than what directors had seen in September, including a list of 16 questions.
“I do note that the opinions of different agencies seem very divided. The majority seem to not want to do anything new,” Shugar said. “However, I think before something comes forward for the board’s consideration, Roberts Creek should have the opportunity to answer the same questions as everybody else.”
The committee agreed to forward the new report to the Roberts Creek APC and official community plan committee.
In its response, the Egmont/Pender Harbour APC recommended that rooster-specific zoning not proceed. To address repeated complaints under the noise bylaw, the APC suggested the SCRD consider mediation assistance between neighbours, with the cost paid equally by both parties.
“There was a feeling that an occasional rooster noise is to be expected in a rural area,” Area A director Frank Mauro said. “I take their comments to heart.”
The Halfmoon Bay APC was divided on whether the noise bylaw should be used for rooster management, with members defeating a motion in support of that approach. The APC was also divided on whether the zoning bylaw should be amended so that roosters are not permitted in residential zones.
The Elphinstone APC said the zoning bylaw should be amended to prohibit roosters in residential zones, while the density of neighbouring properties should be considered as a factor in the rural-residential (RU) zone. The APC dismissed the noise bylaw as a mechanism to control roosters, as “there is no one to enforce it.”
The West Howe Sound APC restated its position that no poultry should be kept in R1 areas, and roosters should be controlled by a complaint-driven noise bylaw. “The SCRD should leave Area F out of the current consideration of rooster control,” the APC recommended.
The agricultural advisory committee recommended application of the noise bylaw for rooster control.
The draft rooster control bylaw had been prompted by noise concerns, particularly in Half-moon Bay and Elphin-stone, and would have banned roosters outside the Agricultural Land Reserve in those two electoral areas and the West Howe Sound mainland. Calling it too restrictive, directors for all three areas included in the draft bylaw flatly rejected it when staff brought it forward on Sept. 18.
