Backyard Chickens for Oak Hall

The purpose of this drive is to raise the money needed to change the Holly Springs Oak Hall subdivision covenants to allow backyard chickens.  

The expenses include $835 for legal, proxy and mailing fees plus the gofund me fees. (minus the $50 we received in cash donations)

Why should you consider donating:

1.  You live in Oak Hall and would like to have chickens in the future.

2.  You live in Oak Hall and would like to support this movement even though you are not interested in owning chickens yourself.  We will be trying to find opportunities for children and adults to participate even if they do not have chickens in their own yards, for example at the food pantry or by having a community coop and garden.

3.  You live in Holly Springs or Fuquay Varina and you would like to support Oak Hall’s Backyard chicken movement as it may be a model for your city or neighborhood one day.

4.  You live in Cary, Apex, Raleigh or another city that already allows backyard chickens and would like to see the Backyard Chicken movement spread.

5.  You see the value in teaching children about sustainability, the green movement and urban farming. 

6.  You want to support people who are willing to go through the efforts of making changes in their community, no matter what the cause.

Our Story…

On August 4, 2015, Jennifer Powell and Marilyn Jesrani (Oak Hall residents) presented our views on legalizing backyard chickens in Holly Springs at a Holly Springs town meeting. The town had been debating this issue for years.  At that time, Holly Springs and Fuquay Varina were the only cities in the state of North Carolina that did not allow chickens. The town council voted “YES” to allowing backyard chickens at this meeting! The final version of the town chicken ordinance was passed on February, 2016.

On April 14th, 2016, The Jesrani family had a hearing with our HOA because we were cited for having a backyard chicken coop with two chickens. We have had chickens for about 5 years, they were enclosed in a safe, roomy, humane coop, were well cared for (spoiled) pets. Our bordering neighbors were asked before building the coop and agreeable to them. The coop could not be seen from the front of the house and could barely be seen from the sides of the house. We have a 6 foot fence and no backyard neighbors. Polly and Biscuit made little to no noise and did not smell. But... like so many of us who break a rule of our neighborhood covenants, we were eventually cited and now had to make our case.

At the HOA hearing, we made the following request:

Motion to recognize that backyard chickens can be classified as household pets and to include an amendment in the Oak Hall covenants that clearly allows a home owner the opportunity to apply for a permit from the city of Holly Springs.

This is not a fight with our HOA board, but rather a process for making the option of having backyard chickens available to any Oak Hall resident who has a town permit and follows the rules set by the town of Holly Springs.  Our neighbors have been extremely supportive in this movement (Thank you!) and many people in Oak Hall have expressed an interest in having chickens of their own.

Meanwhile, I have made arrangements for Polly and Biscuit to be moved to the Holly Springs Food Pantry where I will care for them, donate the eggs and use their coop as a model and educational tool for our community.  I want to use their coop to help teach about sustainability and give kids the opportunity for some fun community service.  I am extremely excited about this!  If our HOA passes our proposed amendment, I will build a new coop at our home and maintain both locations.  I also hope that if the amendment is passed, Oak Hall chicken owners will consider donating a percentage of their eggs to the Holly Springs Food Pantry.

On April 22, 2016, we received a letter with the final decisions from our HOA hearing. This is an excerpt from the letter:

“Please be advised that there are expenses that would need to be paid in order to obtain this amendment. The Association's attorney will need to write the proposed amendment that would have to be mailed along with a meeting notice and proxy to all members of the Association. The approximate cost of the attorney is $400 and mailing is $435. The $835 would need to be received from you no later than May 20, 2016 in order to proceed with this request….

Since this is significant cost and it's a cost that would be repeated should there be a desire in the future to obtain an amendment regarding any other part of the Covenants, the Board believes this should be paid by the party seeking the amendment. Once approved by the membership, the HOA would bear all recording and other costs associated with this change.”

On April 23, 2016, we started this gofundme account.

When we reach our goal, we will pay Oak Hall and get this vote on its way.

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