It's official

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2012/04/11/backyard-chickens-plucked-from-dekalb-consideration/atp2jfe/?page=1

DeKALB – Residents hoping to get eggs from their backyards instead of stores are out of luck.

A proposal to allow residents to own hens within DeKalb city limits that has bounced around committees and commissions for months was dealt a blow by the City Council when it failed to gain enough support to be called for vote consideration at the Committee of the Whole level.

The Citizens Environmental Commission and the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission were tasked with reviewing the backyard chicken concept in January, but neither group could come to a consensus for or against it.

City staff drafted guidelines for hen ownership, such as a five-hen limit, keeping coops 35 feet away from property lines and having at least 10,000 square feet of land. The guidelines were moot because DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen and five of the seven council members snuffed the idea and halted future consideration.

“We have code issues already ... and we’re trying to clean up our neighborhoods,” Povlsen said. “I think [chickens] are meant for the country.”

Kristen Lash, 3rd Ward alderwoman, and Brendon Gallagher, 4th Ward alderman, said the city should at least pursue the idea and continue the conversation because of the public support. Gallagher pointed to a petition with more than 400 signatures as a reason to consider the idea. The city has pursued ordinances on the urging of groups as small as 10 residents, he said.

Lash said she has concerns but is generally in favor of the idea, as are her constituents.

“I’ve gotten more calls on this than every other issue combined,” she said.

But the rest of the council members said they have heard negative feedback on the idea and were concerned about what hens could do to the quality of life, business attraction, health and smell of the city.

Aldermen Tom Teresinski, 2nd Ward, and Ron Naylor, 5th Ward, said the city struggles to enforce existing codes and adding hens would cause more of a problem, especially while the city focuses on
improving housing conditions.

Sixth Ward Alderman Dave Baker said the smell would disturb neighbors, and 1st Ward Alderman David Jacobson was concerned about stray hens and the possibility of fraternities raising hens.

Melissa Burlingame, program coordinator of environmental studies at Northern Illinois University, urged the council to reconsider, saying the concerns were based on theoretical situations and not facts from other municipalities that allow hens.
The council has no immediate plans to reconsider.