The vote, while unanimous from the board, is conditional based on the ruling from the Zoning Board of Appeals, who meet on an as-needed basis.

Black came prepared for the early morning hearing last week, as he had letters of support from several of his neighbors, including his closest neighbor, who the coup’s placement affects the most heavily.

“There’s just six, we gave the others away when we found out six was all we could have,” said the First Street resident. “The only caveat to what your rules say is that they are close on the one fence line to my neighbor next door, but with the packet of information I dropped off is a letter from him stating he has no issue with it whatsoever.”

Black’s qualifications impressed the Westfield village Planning Board, as they joked he was “overqualified for chickens.” Black has been involved with agriculture his entire life. He grew up on a farm, and while he attended Westfield Academy, he was an active member of the Future Farmers of America (FFA). Black then attended Alfred State University, where he received a degree in agriculture. Keeping the chickens, along with the garden he has, is how Black keeps his agricultural connection.

OBSERVER Photo This First Street home has cleared one hurdle to have chickens in the village.

“I’ve always tried to keep an agricultural connection,” Black said during the hearing. “The chickens, and my garden, are my way of doing that.”

Black’s garden is also a pivotal part of why the Board approved of him keeping the chickens, because it’s how he’s taking care of the compost. What Black did with the compost from the chickens was the largest concern voiced by the Board, and Black’s answer seemed to leave them satisfied.

“It goes into a barrel, it has a rod that goes through the middle and is supported by 4 by 4s,” Black said. You can put it in there with other things like coffee grounds and things from the house, it airates in there and turns into nice compost. I also have a nice pile out back that I keep covered with hay, and that works really well. That’s where I put what comes out of the barrel or old plants I’ve torn out. I’ve gotten pretty good at composting, and all the compost then goes in the garden.”

The board was so impressed with Black, they even discussed Black sharing his composting technique with other people who have similar requests. And there have been several requests similar to black recently in Westfield, causing the Board to discuss reevaluating their laws regarding keeping chickens as the requests have become more frequent. Black’s case isn’t exactly indicative of how other people’s requests may fall, as Black is highly qualified to take proper care of the chickens.

“There is almost nothing worse in the world than the smell from chickens, if you have a really big chicken coup, and you’re a quarter mile away on the wrong day, it’d make your eyes water,” said Westfield Planning Board Chair Don McCord during the meeting. “He has the experience, not every person who has come to us has raised a chicken before. Where I’m going with this is that I don’t have any problems revisiting, but if we do I would caution us to stiffen that law. There has to be something within the laws context to allow us, if we approve chickens a lot like this, and things went South, there has to be some clear mechanisms that spell when it’s working and when it’s not.”

With the chickens already being present on Black’s property, the approval for him to keep them remains temporary until the Zoning Board of Appeals meets in the coming weeks. Black’s case should be able to hold up there as well, as he has several letters of support from his neighbors to keep the chickens on his property. The Westfield Village Planning Board will continue to evaluate their own laws regarding keeping chickens on property within Westfield, and will evaluate each request on a case by case basis.