When Jim Connours appeared before the Annandale City Council the night of Sept. 11, he stirred up a discussion that council members hope will continue for awhile.
Connours, of 120 Norway Circle, had asked council members for permission to keep seven chickens on his property. Annandale has an ordinance that prevents residents from possessing farm animals.
His request was tabled, and although he was not present for the City Council’s Oct. 2 meeting, council members continued to wrestle with the topic.
Failing to see a consensus from the council and lacking any action, Mayor Dwight Gunnarson directed the Planning & Zoning Commission consider a zoning amendment with a process that includes a public hearing to learn where other residents stand.
"I think that’s exactly what this issue needs – a public hearing," he said.
The next meeting of the planning commission is at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 30. Any public hearing would have to be at a subsequent date.
Return to commission
Two years ago the city Planning & Zoning Commission had taken up this issue, and went as far as to direct city staff to draft an ordinance that would best attempt to address the issues that were raised.
However, the planning commission ultimately did not recommend that the council make a change to the city ordinance.
That all stemmed from another resident who had inquired about an amendment allowing chickens. The 2015 request was for raising fryer chickens for roughly half of the year, where the latest request was to keep chickens year round.
A complaint against Connours spurred the issue to be brought back up. He said when he was away one of his hens escaped.
As far as the city’s ordinance is concerned all farm animals are considered livestock. There is one limited exception to its ban, and that is in an agricultural district. For example, if farmland was annexed into the city it would be zoned agricultural on an interim basis until the property could be developed.
A question was asked on how the ordinance was enforced, and City Administrator Kelly Hinnenkamp explained that it is driven by complaints.
"Bigger cities have a code enforcement person, but for cities our size, a complaint-based format is pretty common," she said.
Police Chief Jeff Herr said that in the event of a loose dog, that dog often has tags to identify them, and an officer will transport it to a veterinarian. But if a chicken gets loose, it’s not clear who it belongs to, and his officers will not be tasking with trying to chase a chicken.
Council member Matthew Wuollet, who was part of the planning commission that reviewed the subject in 2015, said they looked at a minimum one-acre lot, and the state requires any livestock be at least 1,000 feet from a lake.
Since the original request was for six months, concern over waste and odor wasn’t as high as it might be for an entire year.
Interest level
"If this gets passed, are we going to have an influx of chickens, or will it be isolated to a few properties?" Gunnarson asked.
Hinnenkamp doubted Annandale would see anything approaching overwhelming interest, and more likely no more than a couple, depending on how the ordinance is written. The restrictions that cities put in their ordinances can serve to limit the amount of interest.
"A lot of them say four chickens is the max, and for a lot of people, they say it’s not worth my time," she said.
"Do we want Annandale to have the option of chickens, plain and simple, regardless of what stipulations we put on there?" the mayor asked the council.
Council member Corey Czycalla said he tends to look at the what-if scenarios, such as if a large number of homeowners wished to have chickens, and the enforcement and other issues that could arise.
"I haven’t heard any strong complaints. It hasn’t been much of an issue, so I don’t have a problem with it," council member Shelly Jonas said. She thought the sample ordinance was very thorough.
That sample ordinance included undefined limits on the size of the property and the number of hens. No roosters would be allowed, nor would the slaughter of chickens, raising for breeding purposes, or sale of eggs on the premises.
Chickens would have been required to be housed in a separate enclosed building or fenced outdoor containment area, and all property owners within 50 feet had to sign off on the application.