Sean C. Morgan
The city of Sweet Home has placed a poll on its website seeking input from residents on whether chickens should be allowed within the city limits.
The Public Safety Committee met following the regular City Council meeting on May 24.
Currently, the city allows residents to have chickens on properties of at least a half acre. Resident Bruce Hobbs asked the City Council last month to consider allowing them on smaller properties. People in urban areas in Oregon are using them for eggs and sometimes for food.
The committee is preparing a recommendation for City Council approval at a later date. Committee members were open to allowing chickens within the city limits, something that other cities, such as Eugene and Portland, already allow. Councilor Scott McKee Jr., who is a member of the committee, is strongly advocating allowing them.
The committee was hung up on a couple of issues the first time it met, including whether to allow residents to maintain chickens in their front yards and whether to allow young roosters, which could be raised for food.
McKee told the committee that the roosters don’t normally crow when young.
He supported allowing chickens to be raised in front yards because many residential lots have small or virtually non-existent backyards. Councilor Ron Rodgers was concerned about the impact chickens in the front yard would have on aesthetics and property values.
“If it is possible, it should be kept in the side or backyard,” Rodgers said.
The committee agreed that the city needed to find out what citizens think, so the single-question poll, which simply asks whether chickens should be permitted on lots under a half-acre, has been added to the lower right corner of the city’s website’s front page, http://www.sweet-home.or.us.
The poll showed a 50-50 split Sunday evening, but the number of voters was unavailable.
After gathering results from the poll, the committee will recommend a decision to the council. If it recommends allowing chickens, a proposed ordinance will go before the council.
After the committee finalizes a recommendation on chickens, it will also send a recommendation to the council to allow tarantulas as pets within the city limits. The existing ordinance prohibits keeping tarantulas as pets, along with all stinging or “poisonous” insects or arachnids. Honey bees are allowed by an exception within the ordinance.
Members attending the committee meeting were McKee, Greg Mahler and Rodgers.
Earlier in the evening, the City Council approved the exchange of $105,188 in federal transportation dollars for $98,876.72 in state dollars from the Oregon Department of Transportation. The exchange, at 94 cents per dollar, allows the city to avoid federal requirements, which increase project costs, on transportation projects.
The council annually agreed to the exchange.
Present at the meeting were councilors Mahler, Jim Gourley, McKee, Rodgers, Marybeth Angulo and Mayor Craig Fentiman.
In other business, the council:
n Declared a 2003 Ford Crown Victoria surplus. The vehicle has outlived its usefulness due to condition and cost of continued repair, said Police Chief Bob Burford. The vehicle was retired from regular patrol duty two years ago. Since then it has been used as a travel and training car. It has been replaced by another retired fleet vehicle.
n Held the first and second readings of an ordinance that would update the city’s codes to reflect the Police Department’s policy manual regarding inventory of property and searching of persons and vehicles.
The department had updated its policy to reflect current case law, which resulted in policy numbers not matching those listed in the ordinance. The new ordinance reflects the new policy numbers.
n Decided to continue contracting with Grove, Mueller and Swank, PC, for auditing services. The firm annually audits the city’s finances and provides a report to the City Council. The cost to audit the city’s 2010-11 financial records is $25,000, down from $28,000 for its 2009-10 financial records.