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In clutch vote, board approves small West Roxbury chicken coop

The Zoning Board of Appeal today unanimously approved a West Roxbury resident's request to add a chicken coop behind his garage.

In response to a question from board Chairwoman Christine Araujo, Francesco Peri of Mountclair Avenue said the new 4x6 structure would be home only to hens, no roosters.

The BPDA seemed to have requested the right to conduct "design review" of the new coop, but a BPDA official told the board that was a mistake, the BPDA does not need to comb over a chicken coop's relationship with existing buildings. Board member Mark Erlich, who reviews proposals for basic design issues, declared the plans "adequate," after he managed to stop laughing, but when the design issue briefly came up, suggested "Queen Anne."

In addition to the coop itself, Peri proposed a 4x10 enclosed "run" to keep the chickens from crossing the road.

The mayor's office and City Councilor Matt O'Malley supported the proposal.

One resident did submit an e-mail of concern over bird flu.

That the coop was before a board that normally deals with larger projects because it would be attached to Peri's garage, which means that for zoning purposes it would become part of the garage and so would make the garage larger than it normally should be for the area's zoning.

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Comments

The mayor's office and City Councilor Matt O'Malley supported the proposal.

That the mayor and city council have to spend time on these things is a bit silly.

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That the mayor and city council have to spend time on these things is a bit silly.

Nobody said that the mayor spent even a millisecond on this. Note "the mayor's office" not "the mayor"

The mayor has a large staff, some of whose jobs are specifically to evaluate and weigh in on specific proposals like this. It's not like Marty himself is out there with a tape measure sussing out chicken coops.

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Even if he was, isn't one of the broadly generalizing complaints about elected officials that they aren't out there helping out the average citizen? If this came to Marty's attention and he gave brief consideration to it and the thumbs up, is that hurting anyone? Did anything not get done because he might have spent a small slice of time thinking about this? Sure, he can't do this for every single little matter that comes through City Hall, but if he did spend a moment on this, the city hasn't collapsed as a result.

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please...

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If you want a chicken coop move to Somerville you’ll be welcomed with open arms

https://www.somervillema.gov/news/somerville-becomes-first-city-commonwe...

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A Rooster clucks defiance.

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prrrretty sure just building a small coop is a lot easier than moving across town. What in the world kind of suggestion is this.

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...is licking his or her chops!

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Would the chickens cross the road?

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A “chicken coop” and a “chicken co-op” are related, yet distinct types of entities. Discuss.

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