Batavia closer to allowing chickens

A Batavia committee is recommending that residents be allowed to raise chickens in their backyards.

The city services committee voted 4-3 Tuesday to move a proposed law to the city council. Aldermen Jim Volk, Robert Liva, Victor Dietz and Eldon Frydendall voted in favor. Aldermen Michael O’Brien, Dawn Tenuta and Janet Jungels voted against.

A motion to allow residents to slaughter their chickens for personal consumption failed 6-1.

Jungels suggested requiring owners to get written permission from all adjacent neighbors to have chickens, but the committee rejected that, with Frydendall saying it would pit neighbor against neighbor. Alderman Alan Wolff said people would challenge the law because the city does not require similar approval for any other kind of building.

The committee did approve motions Jungels made that would prohibit people from having chickens if they are convicted of three or more violations in one year, and another one requiring that any chicken noise not be so loud at the lot line it would disturb “a person of reasonable sensitivity.”

O’Brien tried to increase how far chicken coops and runs would have to be set back from lot lines, to 20 feet. It failed; the coops and runs will be treated like other accessory structures, such as tool sheds, with different setbacks depending on the size of the lot. On smaller lots, that could be as few as 6 feet.

Wolff, who is not on the committee, noted a 20-foot setback would put coops in the middle of small yards.

Tough, according to O’Brien, who has previously said he doesn’t think chickens belong in urban areas.

“You want chickens, you have to have at least some concept of your neighbors,” he said. “If you have to put it in the middle of your yard, then you either have a nice yard or you have chickens.”

The full city council will vote on the law, likely at its next meeting, which is May 16.