ALTAMONT — More than four years of sporadic work has paid off with Altamont’s adoption of a law on Oct. 19 that allows residents to have chickens on their properties.

The village board voted unanimously in favor of the law, which received equally broad support from residents, after first completing a State Environmental Quality Review that found the law would not have an adverse impact on the environment. 

The only speaker at the second part of the public hearing, on Oct. 19, was Maurice McCormick, who reiterated concerns about how the building inspector would handle inspections. Last month, the board assured him that inspections would be done during “reasonable daylight hours.” This month, he wanted to know if the inspector could walk onto the property for an inspection without permission.

“With our other inspections, he generally does [give a head- up], or he’ll knock on the door,” Mayor Kerry Dineen explained. “Sometimes we have to give people a piece of paper; he’ll go knock on the door and see if they’re there … He’s not just going to pop in and literally walk into someone’s backyard on his own.”

McCormick also brought up the proposed fee schedule, which puts the cost of a new permit at $150, and the cost for annual renewal at $50, highlighting the lower costs in neighboring communities like Guilderland, New Scotland, and Colonie, all of which charge less than $100 and in some cases have no annual renewal fee. 

“My suggestion would be for the board to maybe look at doing no annual fee, and a lesser fee for the initial application,” he said, adding that the annual fee is “kind of like a chicken tax.” 

The board did not respond to this except to thank him for the input before closing the public hearing. 

Although there was only one speaker at the hearing, several people wrote letters as early as July that were included in the Oct. 19 meeting agenda; all were in support of the law. 

That support played a big role in the law’s adoption, since an earlier attempt to pass a similar law in 2019 fizzled out when residents failed to voice any enthusiasm. To avoid the same thing from happening, Dineen specifically requested that residents provide input before the board prepared a draft law, which was based on the work a committee had done for the 2019 bill as well as the laws in nearby communities. 

“Kate Provencher, who’s in the audience tonight, thank you very much, because you started with us on this committee … four years ago, and you even helped this time with your comments on the draft,” Dineen said. “We appreciate your work. Thank you so much.”