55 pets

This morning in the Hernando Times, the article titled "Trying to hatch out a solution" should have been named "How to completely bypass zoning regulations." After reading this article, it became very apparent that Leon Atkinson did not follow proper procedure in his request to keep 55 chickens on his residential property in Istachatta.

After complaints were made by the neighbors, Mr. Atkinson was responsible for filing for a Special Exception Use permit through the Hernando County Planning Department. Instead, he took his case directly to the Hernando County Board of Commissioners to ask their special permission to keep his wife's "55 pets" on his residential property.

The county commissioners not only allowed him to violate zoning regulations with their special permission, they also allowed Mr. Atkinson to bypass the procedure to file for this request, as specified by county ordinance.

This special allowance (by county commissioners) to keep 55 chickens on residential property violated the very nature of quasi-judicial public hearings that are required for this type of exemption. Mr. Atkinson should have been required to file the necessary documents, with the planning department, for a Special Exemption Use permit. This filing enable the public notification of everyone in 250 feet of the property. It also requires that this be reviewed by the appropriate county departments. The most important thing that this filing insures is a public hearing that has been properly advertised in the local newspaper. There is a $300.00 filing fee for this type of exemption which Mr. Atkinson also appears to have bypassed with his direct request to the commissions.

Although Mr. Atkinson was able to convince the commissioners to approve his request to keep 55 chickens on his property with his "Aw Shucks" routine, it doesn't answer a few obvious questions. Questions like, why was he given a free pass on the regulatory process when everyone else in the county is expected to comply with ordinances? Why was he allowed to bypass the required public hearing to address the necessary health concerns of the neighbors? Why did the commissioners approve a direct violation of their own ordinances?

One last thought on the "55 pet chickens" on residential property. Put into perspective, if this had been 55 dogs, 55 cats, 55 guinea pigs, or 55 birds on this property, the health department and county code enforcement would have been investigating the environmental concerns of this property, so why didn't this set off alarm bells with the county commissioners?