Prospect Heights officials aim for less stringent backyard chicken rules

Prospect Heights is going back to the drawing board to create rules for backyard chickens after hearing feedback Wednesday from ardent chicken-keepers and members of the city’s planning and zoning board.

Building and Development Director Dan Peterson said practical zoning requirements for the placement of coops in the floodplain-heavy city are the main reason behind the plan to create rules.

But much of the discussion Wednesday focused on the perceived unobtrusiveness of backyard chicken-keeping in town over the past half century.

Board member Janet Saewart suggested the proposed ordinance be simplified to focus on placement of coops in non-offensive areas.

The matter is scheduled to be taken up again on Sept. 25. In the meantime, Peterson plans to meet with residents on both sides of the issue to formulate a revised set of regulations.

Among the 14 residents who spoke, only two said they are comfortable with all aspects of the proposal. One said he finds the rules tolerable, while the other wondered what recourse he had to complain about the chicken odor on his street.

Many in the audience said offensive smells and noises were signs of a lax owner of chickens and not an inevitable part of keeping them.

Board member Neal Patel said he sympathizes with the chicken owners but believes some measures are needed to protect neighbors who don’t want to hear roosters before dawn or smell chickens nearby.

“I think we have to come up with a solution,” he said. “This is a work in progress.”

Resident Genevieve Charet presented a counterproposal to the ordinance that includes more educational resources for the community and a group of knowledgeable residents to serve as a consultant panel.

Several members of the audience, including Randall Brace, whose raising of chickens for meat rather than just eggs would be prohibited by the city’s proposal, said he specifically chose Prospect Heights as a place to live because of the freedom that’s been allowed since its 1977 incorporation.

Brace added that even the occasional rooster crowing could be kept under control.

“I think there is a remedy to all these issues,” he said.