“I want to keep them,” pleaded young Sarah Rastelli (pictured), swinging Tweety-bird slippers before the city zoning board. With a smile, the zoning officials agreed to overturn an eviction notice and let her keep the egg-laying pets.
Michael Rastelli and Rebecca Weiner (pictured above with Sarah) left 200 Orange St. Tuesday night to bring the good news back to the roost in their Westville backyard, where six hens can now continue clucking away. Until Tuesday, the animals had been under threat of eviction by the city, as a result of a neighbor’s complaint. (Click here and here for background stories.)
After the eviction notice hit this summer, Weiner showed up with a flock of neighborhood supporters to protest the order before the Board of Zoning Appeals in October. The board upheld a city inspector’s conclusion that the birds classified as livestock, but encouraged her to come back and seek a special exception.
Not a single human cry of opposition rang out against the birds at the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting Tuesday night, where Weiner came back as directed. The board voted unanimously to approve a special exception to allow the family to keep a maximum of six hens at 187 Willard St., in a residential RM‑1 zone where no livestock is permitted. The board added two conditions: Only six chickens and no roosters.
“She wants to have six chickens, let her have six chickens!” declared BZA Chair Cathy Weber, heeding two-year-old Sarah’s plea.
While the chickens (pictured) are now safe, Weiner is continuing the fight for the safety of hens across the city. During her public battle, several families across the city came forward confessing to keeping below-the-radar roosts.
Along with Aldermen Ina Silverman, Erin Sturgis-Pascale and Roland Lemar and fellow citizen activists, Weiner is trying to get an ordinance passed to allow New Haveners to keep a small number of hens in their yards as egg-laying pets. The effort would bring illegal roosts above the law and support those who want to rely on local food instead of factory farms, Weiner said.
After the complaint this summer, Rastelli moved the pen away from the family’s home, giving it a larger, thirty-foot buffer from neighboring homes. Weiner said one neighbor, an elderly woman suffering from insomnia, said her complaints were satisfied by the move. The hens, after suffering a bout of mites due to the relocation, are now settling into the new roost.
Weiner was planning a special bash for the animals tomorrow to celebrate the news. On the party menu: “extra corn mash, and maybe even some marshmallows.”