Mayor Barnes Hutchins presented Silvia Gorostiza with a proclamation for her leadership and commitment to the backyard chicken program, which was implemented in 2017 and today includes 28 families.
It has been eight years since the township implemented its backyard chicken program.
“Today, 28 families are enjoying the fruits of all of our hard work that we have accomplished as a team,” program leader Silvia Gorostiza proudly said at a council meeting last month.
Mayor Barnes Hutchins presented Gorostiza with a proclamation for her leadership, hard work and commitment to the program, which the township began to pilot in 2017. After two years, council passed an ordinance that granted permanent approval for backyard chickens.
“Silvia not only spearheaded the program,” Hutchins noted, “but also served as chairperson of the Chicken Advisory Board for numerous years, educating the community and promoting healthy living and environmental responsibility.”
Gorostiza said the pilot program began in January of 2017, the Year of the Rooster on the Chinese New Year zodiac. She remembers because her husband gave her a rooster statue that she held up at the council meeting.
“My two sons and I began our journey in obtaining the certification in permaculture taught by Geoff Lawton from the original Permaculture (Education) Institute in Australia,” Gorostiza explained. “Permaculture is named one of the most brilliant discoveries of the age, consisting of and addressing global crises of our current times.”
Permaculture provides ethical and tactical methods to combat climate change; soil erosion; and resource depletion by mimicking natural ecosystems, Gorostiza pointed out.
“Permaculture promotes regeneration,” she offered. “(It) shifts humans from destructive to restorative roles creating resilient bio-diverse systems with healthier soil and higher productivity and output.”
The approach can be carried out throughout any parcel of land no matter how small and no matter the world’s climate conditions.
“In order to design such a sustainable system, we needed animals on a reliable day-by-day basis to be on the property – including wild animals – visiting us every day in order to build the soil,” Gorostiza said.
Hence, the move to make backyard chickens a reality in Delran.
“We began to attend town council meetings along with the green team,” Gorostiza recounted, “and expressed the desire to be able to have this program come to be what it is today.”
She acknowledged a team of people, including Gwenne Baile and former Councilwoman Patty Kolodi, for their hard work and believing in the permaculture mission from its humble beginnings. The former has worked with other New Jersey towns to get backyard bird licenses. Kolodi, Gorostiza added, had an “unfailing belief in animals and in us.”
Gorostiza also recognized former Councilman Tyler Burrell, now a county commissioner; Councilman Lynn Jeney; veterinarian Beth Thompson; members of the green team; and her two sons and daughter. She also thanked Hutchins and the current council for their continued support of the program, as well as the municipal clerk’s office, where residents apply for chicken licenses.
The backyard chicken program makes adult residents of single-family homes or adult residents of “twin” homes or “row” homes eligible for a program license. There is a limit of eight chickens per license and no roosters are permitted, according to the ordinance.
The annual license fee is $10.
The Chicken Advisory Board consists of five community members, meets on a regular basis and oversees and addresses complaints from residents concerning backyard birds. It also records the number of backyard chicken licenses issued.
Members also provide best practices to residents for raising the birds. The chair is appointed to a two-year term by the mayor.
