Oregon City Council last month unanimously approved a request for a Special Use Exception (SUE) in a non-agricultural area at 6338 Brown Road for the purpose of housing livestock.
 
The applicants and property owners, Mohamad Tawil and his wife Nabil, requested the SUE in an R-1 Low Density Residential District.
 
The Planning Commission on April 19 had recommended approval of the SUE.
 
Council held a public hearing on the proposed SUE on May 23.
 
The property, surrounded by agricultural zoning on two sides, is on the south side of Brown Road, west of Bury Road. The lot size is 336 feet by 282 feet, with a seven-and-a-half foot concrete wall surrounding the backyard portion that the owners say will encompass cages and noise.

There is 230 feet between the wall and the street. Plans call for a pole barn to be constructed along the chicken area.
 
The Tawils had initially requested to house two miniature ponies, four pheasants, four peacocks and 25 chickens at the site, but later decided to house just 20 chickens.
 
Several of the Tawils’ neighbors at the Planning Commission had been opposed to the zoning request, mostly out of concerns that possible noise and odor from the site might drift onto their properties.
 
Tawil bought the property because of his large yard, and his sons’ hobby to raise chickens for the eggs. The pole barn would store his boat, jet ski, and golf cart and house the chickens in the winter. He does not want odor in his own yard, and said he would remove the chickens if the smell gets out of control, he said.
 
James Gilmore, commissioner of Building and Zoning, said at a council meeting on May 23 that chickens are not allowed in residential zoning districts.
 
“The only allowable use for raising livestock would be agricultural use. All R districts it is not an allowable use. Therefore, we had to present it as a Special Use Permit,” said Gilmore.
 
“So if for Easter a child gets a chicken and the family keeps it, they’re raising it illegally and they have to get rid of it?” asked Councilman Sandy Bihn.
 
“I don’t think we’d bother with one chicken,” said Gilmore. “But raising a number of chickens is raising livestock, and you’d need a Special Use Permit.”
 
“We used to call this spot zoning when something was zoned inappropriately for whatever reason,” said Councilman James Seaman. “It seems like with all the surrounding area pretty much being [agricultural], I see no objection to allowing him to fulfill his interests with the chickens. It shouldn’t be considered invasive or offensive to the community or the neighborhood.”
 
Councilman Dennis Walendzak asked how the Tawils’ would dispose of the chickens’ bedding.
 
“Is it just going to go over the fence into a farmer’s field? Will it be changed periodically? I’m concerned we get rid of it properly so there isn’t an odor,” said Walendzak.
 
Tawil said he plans to bag the bedding, which is mixed with straw and waste, and dispose of it in a Dumpster in a car lot where he works for his father.
 
The Planning Commission had voted in favor of a compromise, which council approved at a May 23 meeting, that grants Tawil a temporary SUE to raise 20 chickens on his property for one year, and that it would be reviewed by the Commission and council upon expiration of the permit. Mayor Mike Seferian had proposed the compromise, saying he wanted to give Tawil a chance to prove to neighbors he can control possible noise and odor.
 
Upon expiration of the temporary SUE, Tawil will have 30 days to apply for an extension, request that the SUE be made permanent, or drop the request.  The SUE is only for the Tawils and would not be carried over to future property owners.
 
Council President Clint Wasserman praised the “willingness of our residents to compromise and come to a mutual agreement.”
 
“I think that’s very special in our community and we should be proactive about neighbors working together,” he said.

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