Sag Harbor OKs keeping chicken on property

It will soon be legal to keep chickens in Sag Harbor -- up to 18 of them if you own enough property.

In a 5-0 vote, the village board unanimously approved a change in its zoning code Tuesday night that gives village residents the right to keep six chickens for every 20,000 square feet of property they own. To illustrate the point, board member Robbie Stein plopped a model of a chicken on the table in front of him before the vote.

"This is what's allowed," he said.

Then he put down another bigger figure -- a rooster. That will not be permitted, he added.

Roosters, which have the annoying habit of crowing loudly at sunrise, remain banned from residential property in Sag Harbor. So is the commercial sale of chickens and other poultry products from residential property.

The code change will take effect as soon it is filed by the New York secretary of state, which usually takes about two weeks.

Backyard chicken coops, which must be fenced in and built at least 20 feet from a neighbor's yard, cannot total more than 100 square feet and must meet requirements of any other shed or accessory structure in the village code.

The change gives Sag Harbor residents the same rights already enjoyed by all other Southampton Town residents who do not live in the incorporated village, which had previously banned all poultry. North Haven village adopted a similar code change a year ago. East Hampton Town also allows poultry in residential areas.

Both towns -- parts of Sag Harbor village are in each town -- have a long farming history, and farmland on Long Island is usually zoned for residential use.

Village attorney Fred W. Thiele Jr. said the code change was patterned on the North Haven regulation.

Mare Dianora, a village resident who had lobbied for the code change, said there was really only one reason she sought the change. "Eggs," she said.

In the often-contentious village -- debates have gone on for years over issues such as the design of a traffic circle, the expansion of the village library and whether a closed-in private commercial tennis court could be built -- no one objected to the change. One man did ask whether building inspectors would examine the coops, and was told they would be treated like any other accessory structure.

"It seems like some people want to do it," said Mayor Brian Gilbride. "This is like the one in North Haven, which seems to work pretty well."