If laying hens were allowed in Waunakee, would the village need chicken cops? Would the clucking or coop poop result in neighbor complaints?
These are some of the questions Waunakee village plan commissioners hope to find answers to as they consider an ordinance amendment to allow the feathered livestock in residential areas.
The plan commission discussed the chicken-and-egg question at their Jan. 9 meeting, ultimately directing staff to talk to other fowl-friendly municipalities about the experience.
Plan Commission Chair and Village Board President Chris Zellner said he’d had numerous people ask him for the ordinance change in Waunakee.
“I wasn’t really all that excited [about the idea] in the past, but if people want to do it and it’s not a nuisance to the community in any way, that’s one way people can provide food for themselves,” Zellner said.
Community Development Director Tim Semmann said other communities’ municipal codes allow chickens with conditions, such as provisions prohibiting roosters, limiting the number of chickens, and requiring enclosures for them.
“It really depends on how the ordinance is written, but I think this is really just the first step in giving us as staff the go-ahead to start putting together those parameters to present to you for consideration,” Semmann said.
Asked about his experience with communities where chickens are allowed, Attorney Bryan Kleinmaier said some cities and villages have recently amended their ordinances when, like Waunakee, they have received requests.
“It creates additional work for staff,” Kleinmaier said, referring to additional administrative and enforcement efforts. “You will have complaints from neighbors. Not that chickens shouldn’t be there. It’s that the person housing the chickens is not taking the appropriate steps under the code to make sure the smells are not that bad.”
He added that enclosures need to be cleaned and maintained to prevent chickens from flying the coop.
Zellner asked how many of the village’s subdivisions have covenants prohibiting chickens. Semmann was unsure, but he said those covenants supersede village ordinances.
The village could amend the ordinance to allow chickens then amend it again if problems arose, Zellner said. But, doing so would allow residents with chicken to be grandfathered in, Kleinmaier pointed out. Kleinmaier added that a permit ould be required to own chickens.
“I know there were certain municipalities that started with an ordinance that said you have to have a permit in order to have chickens,” Kleinmaier said, adding after residents skipped the permits, those municipalities dropped the requirement.
“There’s a lot of things that come into play when it comes to enforcement provisions,” Kleinmaier said, adding that more research is needed.
Commissioner and Village Trustee Gary Herzberg said he visited his mother in Columbus where chickens are permitted. One neighbor has a rooster whose crowing prompts other neighbors’ dogs to bark.
Commissioner Brian Malich said he was “fine with vetting” the idea.
With Waunakee’s small lots, Malich said he would need to be convinced that “it could be done in a reasonable fashion,” and brought up “chicken cops.”
Commissioner Brian Wallace added that if chickens were to fly the coop, neighbors could become chicken herders.
