From the street, there is nothing different about University of Massachusetts Professor of Plants, Soils and Insect Sciences John Gerber’s house. Its neat gardens, brick front and beige siding give it a distinctly suburban look that matches the rest of Harlow Drive, a residential neighborhood just a few miles off campus.

However, unlike the rest of his neighbors, Gerber keeps four hens in the corner of his backyard — Lucy, Ethel, Rosie and Gertie.

“The Ladies,” as he calls them, live in a 10-square-foot red henhouse in a corner of his backyard sheltered by an evergreen hedge. The henhouse is an old wooden garbage container he modified, adding several roosting platforms, a nesting box for the animals to lay their eggs and a light bulb that turns on at 2 a.m.

The chickens’ enclosure contains a narrow run protected by mesh netting that gives the birds a place to run around and stretch their wings whenever they want. In the summer during the day, Gerber lets them into a larger area of the yard protected by a low fence.

Gerber started to raise chickens eight years ago when he wanted to have a closer connection to his food supply. He keeps the chickens for as long as they can lay eggs then slaughters them for food.

“They are a reminder of what it is to be human,” said Gerber, “and that food comes from Mother Nature and farmers, not a grocery store.”

However, it was not easy for Gerber to receive permission from the town to raise his hens. Since he lived in a residential area close to the center of town, he had to obtain a special permit allowing him to raise chickens from the Town Zoning Board.

“They used the same application that they use for major development, billboards and parking lots,” said Gerber. “It asked me all sorts of crazy question that had nothing to do with five backyard hens. The Zoning Board understands billboard and parking lots, they do not understand chickens, so it was kind of ridiculous.”

It cost him $210, he said, to obtain the special permit allowing him to keep his chickens.

After going through such an ordeal to secure a permit for his hens, Gerber decided he would try to make the permit obtainment process simpler and started a Citizens Petition to change Amherst’s town bylaws. The changes he proposed would allow residents to keep up to 12 hens or rabbits in any part of town, regardless of zoning.

“I think it is reasonable to try to raise some of your own food,” said Gerber. “There is a real prejudice against raising chicken[s]. I don’t ask people to zone my personal values, but it seems okay for someone else to say that I can’t have chickens.”

In order to have the petition come to a vote at Town Meeting, Gerber had to present the petition to the Amherst Town Planning Board, which is required by law to present a report at Town Meeting about any proposed changes to the bylaws. There are three proposed changes before this year’s Town Meeting.

Both citizens and the planning board developed the first one, Article 33, which simply would allow people to keep up to 12 hens or rabbits. Roosters and other noisy birds would not be permitted under the article.

Article 34 was created by the town Planning Board alone and outlines the regulations that owners of chickens would have to adhere to, should the changes pass. Owners would be responsible for registering their animals for a $10 fee and would be required to have their homes and animals inspected by Animal Welfare officer Carol Hepburn.

In addition, owners would be responsible for notifying their neighbors of their plans to raise chickens. If enough neighbors objected, a hearing would be held. According to Planning Director John Tucker, the hearing would hinge on whether the potential owner was following the rules, not on whether neighbors like chickens.

Petitioners created the final article, Article 35. It is the same as Article 34 except that it would not force potential owners to tell their neighbors.

“The Planning Board is offering an alternative not because they disagree, but just to allow the Town Meeting to decide if they want to have stricter regulations,” said Tucker.

The Planning Board recently voted to support all three articles in a six-to-one vote.

Richard Roznoy, a member of the Planning Board and a lawyer accounted for the lone vote against the articles. In a recent planning board meeting, he listed several of his concerns about allowing people to raise hens, which include mice and rats getting into their feed, the new policy possibly becoming too much of a strain on enforcement, and a belief that raising chicken discourages community.

Roznoy will be presenting a minority report against the articles at Town Meeting. He was unavailable for further comment.

Hepburn, the Animal Welfare officer, supports the articles and disagrees that examining the chicken coops will be a stress on her job.

“I already go around to all the farms, so adding a few new ones won’t be a problem,” said Hepburn.

Hepburn also believes it’s important to know where the chickens are in the event that there is ever an epidemic, however unlikely, related to the animals such as bird flu.

The articles will be voted on during Town Meeting, which will be held May 2 in the Amherst Regional Middle School Auditorium starting at 7:30 p.m.

 Katie Landeck can be reached at [email protected].