LEBANON — When Jennifer Mercer purchased a 30-acre property off Route 120 four years ago, she planned to put the land to good use.

Mercer and her partner took to the surrounding woods to tap several hundred maple trees, started 10 beehives and were the first landowners to apply for a permit to keep chickens in a Lebanon residential district. The couple now has 15 hens.

But the eggs, honey and maple syrup that started to quickly add up couldn’t be sold, Mercer said. The city’s zoning ordinance doesn’t allow it.

While residents of the city’s rural zoning districts can operate home-based agricultural businesses — such as orchards and farms — those living in the residential districts aren’t afforded the same opportunity.

“Without being able to have a home-based business, (property owners are) basically limited economically to subdivisions and development,” Mercer, who lives on Woodland Drive in the Residential 3 district, said in an interview on Tuesday.

She’s hoping to change those limitations by calling for three zoning changes now up for City Council review. Taken together, they would allow more people to grow produce, keep animals — including roosters — and sell the resulting products.

Mercer, who sits on the city’s Zoning Board, hopes to create a new section of the city’s zoning ordinance regulating what landowners in the residential district can sell. The three zoning districts are largely clustered outside of heavily populated areas, such as the outskirts of downtown Lebanon and West Lebanon.

Under the new rules, those with more than 5 acres in Lebanon’s residential districts would be allowed to sell products from beekeeping, chickens and other produce.

Meanwhile, those with 10 acres or more would be allowed a limited number of livestock, according to a draft of the proposal.

For instance, property owners with 10 acres could have one horse or cow so long as they provide at least a 500-square-foot enclosure and 120-square-foot shelter.

Mercer also proposes expanding the types of gardening and forestry allowed in Lebanon, so that orchards, maple sugaring and hydroponics are allowed in all of the city’s zoning districts.

And finally, she hopes to allow some property owners in the Residential 3 district to keep roosters.

Roosters would only be allowed on properties of 5 acres or more, and those keeping them would have to provide a secure enclosure 100 feet away from neighboring properties.

Overall, there are only about 30 properties in Lebanon that would meet the criteria, Mercer estimated.

She obtained a zoning variance to keep roosters this summer and said the regulatory process was challenging and expensive to navigate, especially considering that many people think roosters are too loud.

“I don’t think it makes sense to allow roosters in yards that are in close proximity to other houses,” Mercer said.

However, she added, studies show that a rooster’s crow diminishes to the level of a conversation by the time it reaches anyone 100 feet away.

Roosters also allow farmers to sustain flocks without having to rely on large, commercial operations for chicks, Mercer said. They also provide a good defense against predators, she said.

The Planning Board approved the proposal this summer, and the Lebanon City Council will take up Mercer’s zoning proposals when it meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Lebanon City Hall.

It’s unclear whether the changes will ultimately go up for a citywide vote in March. Lebanon’s attorneys haven’t yet made a determination as to whether it’s the responsibility of voters or the City Council to make a final decision, according to Lebanon Zoning Administrator Tim Corwin.

Curt Jacques, the owner of West Lebanon Feed and Supply, said he’s seen a “huge trend” in people growing their own food and raising their own animals in recent years.

“People want to be more self-sufficient,” he said on Tuesday.

The store’s caning competition, which sees people bring in food from their gardens, continues to see increasing participation, Jacques said, adding he also sold about 9,000 birds, including turkeys, ducks and chickens, this year.

Chickens are particularly good at teaching children about animal husbandry and responsibility from a young age, Jacques said. He recalled one customer who purchased turkeys for a daughter.

They raised their own flock to a level that it ultimately paid for her college education.

“It can be fun. It can be very healthy and I think it maintains a level of agriculture that our community was founded on,” he said.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.