Centerville Council to take up chicken question

CENTERVILLE — The Centerville Planning Commission recommends that the City Council approve an ordinance allowing residents in certain zones to keep chickens and rabbits for home food production.

About 22 people attended the Planning Commission's three-hour meeting, which ended Wednesday night with a 5-2 vote in favor of a recommendation. During the meeting, commissioners debated the text of the proposed ordinance, and most residents who addressed commissioners spoke in favor of the proposal.

The City Council is expected to debate the ordinance at a future meeting, possibly on April 20, said Cory Snyder, Centerville's community development director.

The proposed ordinance would allow up to a combined total of six chickens or rabbits in the city's agricultural or low-density residential zones. A permit costing $10 annually would be required, and residents raising chickens and rabbits would have to fence their backyards or have a contained chicken run.

Roosters would not be allowed, and any roosters hatched must be removed from the property within five months.

The proposed ordinance gives direction for size of coop construction and states that coops must be kept clean so no smell can be detected from neighboring property lines.

The ordinance permits slaughtering of animals for food and states that remains must be discarded properly.

The ordinance is available for review on the city Web site, www.centervilleut.net under "Community Development."

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