Shawano residents hungry for a steady supply of fresh eggs from their own backyard chickens moved a step closer to their dream coming true Wednesday.
The Plan Commission recommended a new city ordinance that would allow the birds to be kept within city limits. The commission voted 8-1 to overturn the city’s ban on urban poultry and adopt a new ordinance allowing up to four chickens.
The matter now goes to the Shawano Common Council for consideration.
Commissioner Richard Felts cast the sole no vote after telling fellow commissioners that every resident he spoke with was opposed to the idea.
“I talked to about 20 to 25 different people,” Felts said, including some residents who thought he was joking. “I did not find anybody that was in favor of having this chicken ordinance passed.”
Commissioner Chad Kary said he had gotten the opposite reaction.
“A lot of people are very enthusiastic about this sort of thing,” he said.
No one from the public spoke on the issue during the meeting.
Alderman Bob Kurkiewicz, who is also on the commission, said he had heard only one negative comment.
Kurkiewicz also said the rules that would govern the keeping of chickens as set down in the ordinance would likely guarantee that only the most devoted chicken fans would go through the trouble of complying.
“It really is going to have someone who is a die-hard chicken person before they would just randomly get chickens,” he said. “This is not a fly-by-night thing where everyone’s going to get a chicken because we have an ordinance.”
The ordinance would require chicken owners to get a permit from the city and approval in writing from their neighbors.
It would allow up to four chickens, but no roosters, on a single-family detached dwelling.
Sanitary enclosures would be required that would have to be kept clean, ventilated and predator-proof.
The proposed ordinance also sets down regulations for the size and location of chicken coops and requires feed to be kept in rodent- and predator-proof containers.
Permits would be good for one year and could be revoked by the Common Council on the recommendation of the city clerk or building inspector.
The commission recommended to the council that the price for a permit, which would cover all four chickens, should be $10.
Scott Krueger, a dietitian who has lived in the city for 18 years, brought the backyard chicken proposal to the Plan Commission last month. He said he had 20 letters of support from other Shawano residents.
Similar ordinances are already on the books in more than a dozen other municipalities in the state, ranging from the village of River Hills (population 1,641) to the city of Oshkosh (population 65,000). A number of other communities, including several in Brown County, are also looking at similar ordinances.