Chicken Ordinance to be revisited by council

By PHIL MONSON
An ordinance which would allow Humboldt residents to keep chickens on their property will be revisited by the Humboldt City Council at an upcoming meeting.

At their regular meeting on Monday night, May 18, the council heard from city administrator Cole Bockelmann in his report that he is going to draft an ordinance for them to consider at the upcoming June 1 meeting.
“Based on feedback from the council, I will draft an ordinance on that for our next meeting,” Bockelmann said.

Area resident Lindsey Winter, who has attended meetings in recent months asking the city to reconsider allowing chickens, was at Monday’s meeting and spoke briefly to provide more information.

Winter provided the council with a more revised proposal that would address concerns brought forth at recent meetings.

“At the last meeting two specific things were brought up. The first thing we think of when someone brings up chickens is the smell. Especially those of us who grew up in this area, we often think of the former Farmegg plant south of town, that existed for many years. But there’s a difference between agricultural chickens and back yard chickens. They are two totally different things,” Winter said.

“The biggest misconception is that chickens create strong odors. In reality it is poor maintenance and not the chickens themselves,” Winter said. “The proposal we have written for you limits the number at 10 with no roosters.”

“If it becomes an issue, the city can address it like they do with any other nuisance,” Winter said. “It is no different than any other residential responsibility we already maintain.”

“The second issue I heard last time as enforcement and that it would create additional work for the city. The proposal is intentionally structured to avoid that burden. Enforcement would be complaint-based only. There would be no routine inspections or monitoring of a compliant resident. This is the same method already used for many common residential issues,” Winter said. “Thank you for your time.”

Read the full story from the Humboldt City Council meeting in this week's issue of the Humboldt Independent!