Carisa's Chicken Plea Heads to Planners

Looks like 8-year-old Carisa Fogt could be a step closer to realizing her dream of having chickens as pets.

South Whitehall commissioners have sent a draft ordinance change to the township planners that would allow for the chickens.

The planners will vet the proposal and recommend whether commissioners should vote to adopt the ordinance change, or not.

The saga started about a month ago when Carisa’s grandfather, Steve Fogt, to the township’s zoning hearing board to allow Carisa to keep chickens as pets at her home at 2108 Scherer Road in an R-H (rural holding) designated zone.

The zone permits up to 100 chickens if the property is five or more acres, and if they are kept 150 feet from property lines and 300 feet from roadways. The Fogt property is less than a half acre.

Steve Fogt said for years his granddaughter had wanted to keep two chickens as pets. He added the property met the ordinance’s setback requirements, and described how the fowl would be housed in a coop to the rear of the property.

After a short deliberation, the zoners , stating that the current ordinance did not recognize chickens as pets. The group advised Steve Fogt to petition the commissioners to have wording amended in the ordinance.

That’s exactly what Fogt did: to the board of commissioners.

At last week's board meeting, Gerry Harbison, the township’s assistant director of community development, presented the commissioners with proposed new wording in a township ordinance that would allow for the chickens, not roosters.