Man would become coop king as city hatches backyard chicken proposal

Arthur Erickson made his name designing the Vancouver law courts and Simon Fraser University. Now Duncan Martin is hoping to do the same as the creator of high-end henhouses stylish enough to grace any Vancouver backyard. The young entrepreneur has already laid the groundwork for his fledgling business, and is only waiting for word from City Hall to set up shop. "People are just waking up to the fact that we can do this in our backyards. It's not something that we need to reserve for farther out in the country," he said.   He may not have to wait long. Guidelines for keeping backyard hens are scheduled to come before the city's planning and environment committee Thursday. The proposal would allow homeowners and renters to keep up to four hens, which must be older than four months. Should the committee approve, the report will go to a public hearing May 18. But already some elements of the policy have ruffled feathers among council. Specifically, a recommendation by staff to build a $20,000 shelter for abandoned and aged hens. NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton said the proposal "almost makes us a laughing stock." "We do not need the extra costs that are being proposed here," she said. COPE Coun. David Cadman, too, questioned the need to spend money on "old-age homes for hens." "My feeling is when we have enough shelters for people, then I'm prepared to talk about shelters for chickens," he said. Others, including Vision Coun. Geoff Meggs, are in favour of the plan. "It struck me as a common sense recommendation to put something in place to deal with chickens that turn up unwanted," Meggs said. "It's consistent, unfortunately, with what we see with all the other pets out there, including some that are exotic." Vision Coun. Heather Deal, meanwhile, praised staff for putting together an "incredibly thorough" report addressing various potential problems and concerns arising from backyard farming, from the health of both humans and birds involved to noise and smells emanating from the coops. "It's the kind of thing that people want to do already. Some people are already doing it," she said. "We just want to make sure that it is done safely and correctly so that the animals are safe, the neighbours aren't annoyed and people have a healthy egg to eat at the beginning of the day." Martin, 25, said he's been building and designing urban chicken coops for about 10 months in an eastside garage. He got into the business by combining his passion for architecture with a strong interest in the "back-to-the-land" urban farmi ng movement. He calls his cedar-and-wire prototype the "Vancooper," which he estimates will sell for $575. He said the structure allows chickens to comfortably "huddle together" at night, while enjoying a large outdoor pen during the day. Martin plans to become one of the first residents in the city to register in the program. "But I'm waiting for it to be legal if I am going to be a high-profile chicken person," he said. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it