New village trustee will have to decide fate of Schaumburg family's six chickens, duck
The fate of a Schaumburg family's six chickens and duck, which members have requested permission to keep since the animals were recently discovered by village officials, will lie in the hands of a soon-to-be-appointed new village trustee.
Due to this month's death of Trustee Frank Kozak, as well as Trustee Jamie Clar recusing himself - he is the family's neighbor - the split vote among the remaining four trustees Tuesday wasn't able to grant the family's request.
So the matter was continued until the village board meeting of Jan. 24, by which time Kozak's successor is expected to be appointed.
A vote by Mayor Tom Dailly would not have been able to break the tie among the underrepresented trustees, Village Attorney Lance Malina said.
Plan commissioners last month voted 8-0 to recommend approval of the family's request to keep the chickens they've been raising for decades, as well as a recently added duck.
But officials see the desired special-use permit as a reflection of unique circumstances - including the property's unusual spaciousness - rather than the possible start of a less restrictive policy.
"I think the size of the lot is a big contributing factor," Schaumburg Community Planner Marisa Krawiec said of the nearly 27,000-square-foot property on the 300 block of Pleasant Drive. "There's still a process to go through. Approval is not guaranteed."
This is the first formal request to keep chickens the village has received since 1993, when permission was granted to keep up to 20 chickens on a property on the 200 block of Wakefield Lane that's nearly as large and as screened from neighbors.
Though that resident still lives there, the chickens stopped being kept some time ago, Krawiec said.
There have been five other instances in the past few years in which the keeping of chickens, roosters or ducks was reported to the village via customer service requests. But in all those other cases, the owners got rid of the animals without even filing a request for a permit, she added.
The village's health division examined the 16- by 12-foot shed and 12- by 12-foot outdoor pen on Pleasant Drive and found them to be as well maintained as the owner claimed, Krawiec said.
There is a door to the shed timed to open at sunrise and close at sunset so the chickens can go out to the pen during daylight hours. The duck occasionally is let out of the pen to swim in the pond on the property.
Village staff members were persuaded to recommend permission for the chickens as long as none are roosters, but stopped short of recommending the duck because it could be heard from the front of the property when inspectors arrived.
Nevertheless, plan commissioners were convinced by the family's plea to include the duck in their own recommendation for approval.
The neighbor closest to the property sent an email of support for the whole request while another neighbor from across the street endorsed the request in person at the plan commission meeting.
Krawiec said no neighbors have spoken against the request since it was made.