An East Mountain family wants to keep their 15 chickens without ruffling any feathers.<\/p>\n
But Scranton\u2019s zoning hearing board denied a request by Chris Verchuk for a variance to keep all of the chickens at his family\u2019s Leslie Drive property. Residents are only allowed to have two chickens under the city\u2019s zoning ordinance. Verchuk attended the meeting with his wife Laurel and 15-year-old son Eli.<\/p>\n
Chris Verchuk said the family has owned the chickens for a year. They are housed in a heated, enclosed Amish-built coop surrounded by a fence. The coop protects the chickens from predators and the elements. It is not visible from the street.<\/p>\n
Chris and Laurel Verchuk emphasized they only own hens and don\u2019t plan to purchase more chickens. Chris Verchuk said the chickens, each named after characters from \u201cThe Office,\u201d don\u2019t run freely around the property.<\/p>\n
He said caring for the chickens has helped Eli deal with social anxiety. Eli gives the eggs to neighbors, members of their church and residents of the Lutherwood senior apartment complex, his dad said. He estimates his son collects between eight and 12 eggs a day and can easily give away a dozen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is learning important lessons and discipline by taking care of the chickens daily and he is learning social interactions by giving the eggs away,\u201d Chris Verchuk said.<\/p>\n
Chris and Laurel Verchuk said their neighbors signed a petition stating they don\u2019t have issues with the amount of chickens the family owns. Several weren\u2019t aware they owned them until they informed them. Chris Verchuk said they haven\u2019t had any noise or odor complaints from neighbors. Laurel Verchuk said her son cleans and maintains the coop, and feeds the chickens daily.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take great pride in keeping our property very clean and properly maintained,\u201d Laurel Verchuk said.<\/p>\n
She said the family received a letter last month indicating they can have no more than two chickens on their property. Chris Verchuk appealed for a variance. She said her husband and son thoroughly researched the regulations around chickens to ensure they weren\u2019t doing anything wrong.<\/p>\n
Chris Verchuk said the chickens have their own personalities and respond to Eli, adding it would be devastating for him to choose which ones to get rid of and ruin his progress on his social skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are not just chickens for eggs, but they act as an emotional support tool for Eli,\u201d Chris Verchuk said. \u201cHe takes great pride in giving out the eggs to those who need them.\u201d<\/p>\n
An emotional Laurel Verchuk said her son loves his chickens and receiving the letter has shaken him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving chickens is calming. Having these chickens is good for him. They relieve his anxiety,\u201d she told the board. \u201cThey have been very therapeutic for him and his anxiety, much like an emotional support animal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli Verchuk told the board the chickens are clean and don\u2019t make much noise. He provided comments from Facebook attesting to how well taken care of they are and how the eggs they lay have helped people as egg prices rise.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you can see, my chickens are not hurting or bothering anyone, but rather used for me to better serve the community,\u201d Eli said, adding they have plenty of space in their coop. \u201cI have gotten very close to these chickens and built a relationship with each and every one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the chickens come when he calls them and he loves them equally.<\/p>\n
Board members told the family they sympathized with them and acknowledged the teen\u2019s passion but said they have to comply with city ordinances. Members said before voting that they faced a tough decision.<\/p>\n
Board member Robert Gattens told Eli he was impressed by the coop. He said the application was the hardest vote in his seven years on the board. He said the board was concerned that if it allows the family to keep their chickens, it would invite similar requests from other city residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsistency is part of what we\u2019re supposed to be,\u201d Gattens said.<\/p>\n
Board member Shawn Walsh said he wished the family researched how many chickens they were allowed to have before purchasing the coop. Chris Verchuk responded that they tried to look up city regulations on chickens but were unsuccessful. Laurel Verchuk said the family wasn\u2019t aware of the ordinance.<\/p>\n
Walsh suggested the family give the chickens to their neighbors, but Laurel Verchuk said she was concerned they wouldn\u2019t be safe if they went with neighbors. He told the family before voting he hopes they can make it work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An East Mountain family wants to keep their 15 chickens without ruffling any feathers. But Scranton\u2019s zoning hearing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-5987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-lackawanna-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-scranton","13":"tag-scranton-headlines","14":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}