FRAMINGHAM, MA – Some might think a Board of Health meeting would not draw much of a crowd, but the Tuesday October 25th, 2011 meeting of the Framingham Board of Health overflowed into the hallway outside the 2nd Floor Conference Room of Town Hall, (the Memorial Building).
Among other issues before the board, an application for a permit to keep chickens was on the agenda.
After a somewhat contentious debate, Peter Jacobson, a Framingham High School Junior was issued a permit keep six chickens at his Maple Street home.
While that would not be any news at all in many parts of the United States, it was a landmark decision of sorts — and an example of how the average citizen in Framingham — regardless of age, can be heard and have government address their needs and desires.
In Framingham, the BOH must issue a permit for anyone to keep even one chicken. Jacobson had submitted an application for a permit to keep six, and included a drawing of coop he plans to build himself.
Although he was accompanied by (more…)