Schaumburg preparing to close the barn door on backyard chickens

Failed permit bids this week by two Schaumburg residents hoping to keep backyard chickens have led village board members to the cusp of eliminating the practice from town.

“I personally just am not interested in having chickens in residential neighborhoods, regardless of the size of the property, and I don’t feel there’s a need for this to be done in residential neighborhoods anymore,” Schaumburg Mayor Tom Dailly said.

After a brief discussion Tuesday, trustees unanimously referred the issue to their planning, building and development committee. The panel is expected recommend removing the special-use permits from the zoning code.

In seeking a permit, applicant Kazim Hussain invoked the village’s agricultural history, which is reflected in artwork on public display. Even larger cities like Chicago and Elgin permit backyard chickens, he added.

Hussain’s proposal to keep six hens on his family’s 16,750-square-foot property on Plymouth Lane had been recommended for approval by both village staff and the plan commission.

But trustees made it clear they see Schaumburg’s agricultural history as something best honored by the park district’s Volkening Heritage Farm at Spring Valley Nature Center.

“I do have to concur with the mayor that Schaumburg is more of an urban residential type of community and not agriculture anymore,” Trustee Mark Madej said.

Also denied Tuesday were the owners of a 9,028-square-foot property on Apple Drive who had been keeping 10 hens and two ducks for the past two years. Village staff believe the property isn’t large enough or sufficiently isolated from neighbors.

There is only one active permit in the village, granted in 2023, to keep six chickens and a duck on a 26,900-square-foot property along Pleasant Drive. That permit would likely be grandfathered in for that particular homeowner, even if trustees permanently deny the option to anyone else, Dailly said.

Only one other home in Schaumburg has ever been issued a permit. This was approved in 1993 for a 20,3000-square-foot lot on Wakefield Lane, where chickens had been kept for 18 years by then. The permit expired when the homeowner stopped keeping the chickens in 2008.