Can I keep chickens in Novi?

The zoning ordinance never mentions chickens or poultry by name, so the answer turns on how the city classifies them.

What the ordinance does regulate: keeping and raising of livestock is a special land use in the RA Residential Acreage district only (Section 3.1.1.C; Section 4.8, a section titled “Keeping and Raising of Large Animals”), requiring 2 acres for the first animal and 2 more acres per additional animal, with clean pens and shelters 100 feet from exterior property lines (Section 4.8). In R-1 through R-4, only horses and ponies are a permitted use under those same acreage ratios; livestock is not listed there. Farms, permitted in RA through R-4 on parcels of at least 3 acres, may not operate as piggeries or slaughter operations but can include customary animal raising (Section 4.1).

If chickens count as livestock, a typical subdivision lot in R-1 through R-4 has no path to keep them, and even an RA owner needs special land use approval and acreage. Backyard-chicken rules also sometimes live in a city's general animal ordinances rather than zoning. Ask the Community Development Department at 248-347-0415 how Novi classifies backyard hens before building a coop.