From the Carbondale Times:
“It’s been more than a year since local sustainable farming expert Wayne Weiseman stood before the City Council and began a well-researched proposal with these words: ‘I’d like to speak tonight about the possibility of keeping chickens for eggs in the city limits’.
Weiseman’s comments spurred a review and discussion that lasted for most of 2010 in meetings of the citizen group known as the Sustainability Commission, which advises the City Council and makes suggestions on all things environmental. Last week, that group- which has enthusiastically backed Weiseman’s idea of allowing Carbondale citizens to raise chickens for eggs and other purposes- prepared its final proposal for Council consideration.
The commission’s pitch calls for each single-family residence being allowed six chickens (no roosters), with each requiring a unique identification tag and one-time $5 licensing fee. Coops would have to be at least 10 feet from the property line and 25 feet from any home, business or religious facility. Slaughtering is not allowed, and there are considerations for cleanliness and odor control.
The primary obstacle to the ‘backyard chickens’ proposal is Title 3, Chapter 3 of the city’s governing document, the Carbondale Revised Code, which defines livestock as ‘any ass, bison, cattle, chicken, donkey, duck, fowl, goat, goose, horse, mule, pony, sheep, swine or turkey’.
It states that ‘no person shall keep or maintain any livestock within the city limits’ unless that person is here for no more than two hours during the inter- or intrastate transportation of livestock to market. The animals are also allowed for circuses, research labs, veterinary clinics and other special uses.
Besides the benefits of fresh eggs, proponents assert that the chickens provide pest control in gardens, assist in fertilization, get rid of weeds and eat some food scraps such as carrot tops and wilted lettuce.
If the Council is not prepared to act on the ‘backyard chickens’ proposal, the matter could be forwarded to the citizen-run Planning Commission, which advises elected leaders on property concerns.
‘Urban farmers’ such as Weiseman, who initiated this ordinance in Carbondale, have successfully lobbied cities such as Fort Collins, Colorado; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Bloomington, Indiana; and even Chicago to allow citizens to raise chickens on their property.
‘There’s a growing civic sentiment, the desire of some urban dwellers to go back to the farm’, Weiseman has said.