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A war on small homesteads
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jonathco
Michigan
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5 Feb ’17 - 10:27 pm
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Has anyone else noticed that townships are enacting ordinances against keeping animals? The Mrs. and I are in the market new house and we have run into two different townships that will not let you have chickens or goats unless you have 10+ acres. These same townships have no issues with folks living in a subdivision and keeping 3 dogs that crap and bark constantly on a postage stamp lot. 🙂

Sure is starting to seem that there is a war on self-sufficiency and homesteading. Anyone seeing this around them too?

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jl
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6 Feb ’17 - 9:35 am
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haven't noticed that yet 

but I have seen so many that don't allow "tiny homes" 

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frenchriver
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7 Feb ’17 - 9:37 am
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We're actually seeing the opposite here. In the township that we're building in we can legally own 1 animal unit per acre. I think chickens,goats,dogs and other smaller animals equal .2 animal units with a cow being 1 unit. That said, extra permits are required if your operation is considered commercial. 

Furthermore, in our nearest city (86k population), homeowners are actually encouraged to own animals. City ordinances have been enacted to allow goats, chickens, and bees all on small city lots, but again extra permits are required. 

As far as tiny homes go, up here they still fall into the caveat of a "recreational vehicle" and are allowable so long as they're built on a trailer. Our house is only 600 square feet, so not tiny, but we also don't have to follow building codes so it is allowable. 

The following users say thank you to frenchriver for this useful post:

jl, jonathco

"Adversity elicits talents which, in otherwise fortuitous circumstances would have lain dormant."

Follow along as we build our homestead at frenchriverhomestead.com!

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jonathco
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8 Feb ’17 - 9:17 pm
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frenchriver said
We're actually seeing the opposite here. In the township that we're building in we can legally own 1 animal unit per acre. I think chickens,goats,dogs and other smaller animals equal .2 animal units with a cow being 1 unit. That said, extra permits are required if your operation is considered commercial. 

Furthermore, in our nearest city (86k population), homeowners are actually encouraged to own animals. City ordinances have been enacted to allow goats, chickens, and bees all on small city lots, but again extra permits are required. 

As far as tiny homes go, up here they still fall into the caveat of a "recreational vehicle" and are allowable so long as they're built on a trailer. Our house is only 600 square feet, so not tiny, but we also don't have to follow building codes so it is allowable.   

Wow, very impressive and gives me new found respect for Minnesota! Two different townships I have been looking in require 10 acre minimums to have chickens. 

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frenchriver
Northern Minnesota
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9 Feb ’17 - 10:12 am
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Wow, that's absurd!  Have you read the ordinance language regarding this?  Oftentimes the ordinance is written so that if you meet certain parameters like zoning districts etc. you can still be eligible. 

The only other thought I have is that maybe there's a large poultry industry in the area and they wrote it to prevent undercutting of the industry by "smaller" homesteaders, but that's also equally absurd. 

The following users say thank you to frenchriver for this useful post:

jonathco

"Adversity elicits talents which, in otherwise fortuitous circumstances would have lain dormant."

Follow along as we build our homestead at frenchriverhomestead.com!

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K
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19 Feb ’17 - 8:22 am
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Haven't seen anything up here like that yet

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