The Town of High River is considering letting residents keep chickens and bees within town boundaries. Strategic Advisor for Corporate Services with the town Bonnie Farries says the public has been quite interested in what the programs have to offer.

"This was generated through community interest. Then what we did was an informal website survey to kind of gauge the public's response, which was very pro chickens and bees. Which was interesting, it means the community is very open to this idea if handled correctly. Really, public engagement at this point has been pretty high for both programs."

Town survey showed 72% in favour of Urban Chickens and 75% in favour of Urban Bees. Farries says there will probably be more debate on the issue, but things are looking good moving forward.

"I anticipate that third reading will probably have a bit more debate, but on the whole I think it's pretty safe to say that council is in support of both the chicken and bee program at this time. So, although not finalized, I think it's a pretty good indicator of what's to come."

She says allowing chickens and bees in town limits will require amendments to three other bylaws, including land use bylaws, which will will require a public hearing and likely need a four to six week turn-around. She says council is being quite progressive with their approach to the programs.

"The way council wanted to approach it was can it work within this municipality, taking into consideration some of the objections but also allowing greater flexibility. More and more people want to grow their own food. They want to use it for educational purposes. So really council's quite progressive in that they're saying we're going to balance the risks with the benefits."

The Urban Chicken and Bee bylaws will go before council for third reading on May 24th, and Farries says she expects more debate at that time. She says there are quite a few municipalities in the province with Urban Chicken programs, but she hasn't found any examples of an Urban Bee program in Alberta.