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Chickens in town get final OK from City Council

Sean C. Morgan

The Sweet Home City Council last week adopted an ordinance revision that will permit Sweet Home residents to own chickens.

The council voted 6-0 to approve the ordinance during its regular meeting on Oct. 26. Voting yes were Mayor Craig Fentiman, Marybeth Angulo, Greg Mahler, Scott McKee Jr., Ron Rodgers and Mike Hall. Jim Gourley was absent.

The city began considering a request from Bruce Hobbs in April to allow residents to keep chickens. The existing ordinance permits property owners to keep up to 24 chickens if they have at least a half acre of property.

The ordinance adopted by the council last week will allow property owners with less than a quarter acre to keep up to six chickens. Property owners with between a quarter acre and a half acre will be allowed to keep up to 12 chickens. Property owners with more than a half acre will be allowed to keep up to 24 chickens.

The new ordinance bans roosters, which have been allowed under the existing ordinance.

The new ordinance takes effect on Nov. 25.

“I’m very happy with the way the city reworked the ordinance,” Hobbs said. “I think it comes up with a fair and balanced way to allow people to have chickens and hopefully keep them from being a nuisance to the people who don’t think there should be chickens.”

Hobbs had made the request following a trend among other cities to allow chickens, primarily for egg production.

“Some of us in the community believe that, while this ordinance was well-meant, it is out of date and should be revisited and revised as it has been in other, much larger and more urban cities, such as Eugene and Portland,” Hobbs told the council in April. “As people are becoming more concerned with the safety and quality of their food, chickens are an excellent choice to complement urban food production.

As the Public Safety Committee began reviewing the ordinance, staff noted a variety of updates that needed to be made, and it also removed tarantulas from the list of banned pets. The ordinance now addresses miniature livestock animals, for example.

“It’s a trend that’s been happening around the state,” Fentiman said. There have been several cities passing ordinances to allow chickens.

It’s probably going to bring people in Sweet Home into compliance with the law as well, Fentiman said.

He doesn’t anticipate too much change as a result of the ordinance, he said. “Not everybody’s going to go out and buy six chickens and put them in the front yard.”

Among about 100 people who responded to a city survey, the majority were in favor of allowing property owners to keep chickens, and the process was driven by request of a citizen.

“That’s absolutely what the process is all about,” Fentiman said. “Like we’ve always said, you’re not always going to like our answer. We might say no to an idea. We might say yes to an idea.”

In any case, the council will certainly look and see if a request is something that’s going to benefit the community, Fentiman said.

In other business, the council:

n Appointed Natasha Benson, junior high at large, and Emilie Rice, at large, to the Sweet Home Youth Advisory Council. Both are 13 years old.

Remaining vacancies on the YAC include high school sophomore, senior and at-large positions and two at large positions for seventh through 12th grade.

For information about the YAC or to apply, contact the city manager’s office at (541) 367-8969 or stop by City Hall at 1140 12th Ave.

n Re-appointed Greg Korn, Frank Javersak and James Reasons Jr. to two-year terms on the Board of Appeals.

The Board of Appeals consists of members who are not employees of the city and who are qualified, by experience and training, to make judgments on matters pertaining to building construction.

n Held the second reading of an revisions to the conditional use ordinance. The third reading will be held on Nov. 8. Following the third reading, the Council will typically decide whether to adopt the ordinance.

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