“If it is not acceptable for each and every household, it is probably not acceptable for any household,” he wrote. “Sorry, I think the chickens lose out on this one. If they don’t, Newport Beach will become the livestock laughing stock.”
“It’s different if you just walk down the street than if you live right next door,” McFarland said. “I don’t mind chickens, but then it’s not so great they are right there.”
Resk bought the chickens about a year and a half ago, but in December, someone reported them to Animal Control, and an officer told him that he had two weeks to get rid of the birds. Chickens are considered poultry under Newport Beach municipal code, and poultry and other livestock are banned in most parts of the city including Corona del Mar.
“There are suitable places within an established community to house chickens and that location in Newport Beach is in the equestrian oriented Santa Ana Heights district where city policy allows chickens in the residential zone,” he said in an email. “But should we allow chickens in other locations throughout Newport Beach? I think not.”
“If we find a year from now that this is not working the way we think it should or it’s creating more trouble for the city … we could revisit it,” Martin said.
Dominic Condusta told city police he went outside his South Franklin Street apartment at 7:35 a.m. to start his 1998 Jeep Cherokee, which was parked in a driveway. Police said that when Condusta went back out 10 minutes later, his vehicle was gone.
