Billings balks at Provo chicken ordinance

PROVO — Mayor Lewis K. Billings put the city's new ordinance allowing chickens in residential neighborhoods on hold Wednesday after objecting to permit requirements and other technicalities.

The ordinance was to take effect Wednesday.

As approved by the City Council, the ordinance would be difficult to enforce, Billings wrote in a letter to the council.

During a public hearing April 21, residents almost universally opposed the city requiring a permit and possibly fees to own chickens. Billings backed the residents and said he would support allowing chickens without a permit, but with standards he called reasonable.

Requiring permits would cost the city up to $50,000 a year to administer and enforce, he said.

Billings also objected to some ordinance definitions.

"When does a chick become a chicken?" he wrote.

Dogs and cats count as allowable numbers after they turn 6 months old.

The council should also better define how a chicken enclosure be constructed to protect chickens from birds of prey and animals that could burrow under an enclosure, the mayor said.

The ordinance also failed to state how county health provisions would relate to it in case of an emergency, Billings said. Additionally, he objected to the 15-foot distance limit on chicken enclosures from the property lines. That provision may not work for some homeowners who want chickens, he said. Billings called for other options without setting distance limits.

Additionally, the ordinance has a zoning conflict that should be fixed, he said.

The council passed the ordinance with a 4-3 vote and can override Billings at its next meeting with five votes from the seven-member panel.

E-mail: rodger@desnews.com