Palatine sets guidelines - including neighbor approval - for backyard chickens

Palatine has opened the window a crack for residents who wish to keep backyard chickens.

Chickens are still prohibited in the village. But now, thanks to action taken last week by the village council, residents can apply for special use zoning approval following criteria added to the village code.

Owners must buy an annual license costing $50 the first year and $75 in following years. They also need an Illinois Department of Agriculture Livestock Premises registration.

Owners can have a maximum of six chickens, and roosters are prohibited. Requirements also include a solid 6-foot fence around the rear yard, a fenced chicken run and a coop located in the rear yard.

The coop itself must be set back 15 feet from the side and rear yards and 10 feet from any primary structure. Chickens must be confined to the coop or the run at all times.

Backyard chicken ownership is limited to single-family residential zoning.

Permission also must be obtained from abutting property owners.

Council members with the exception of Kollin Kozlowski signed off on the criteria. Councilman Brad Helms was absent.

Kozlowski cited public safety concerns related to attracting coyotes and other predators.

Meeting the criteria doesn't guarantee approval.

"Not everybody may like all the criteria," Village Manager Reid Ottesen said, "but I think the criteria is very solid and protects interests and rights."

Palatine resident Mallory Miller praised the council's decision, calling it "a compromise and a cautious step forward."

However, she objected to the requirement for neighbor consent, saying that "the special use process should not side with one of the interested parties before the public hearing takes place."

For Palatine resident Joelle Kern, the bar is too high. She owns chickens but recently found out they were not allowed.

"When we initially moved here, we looked online and kind of scoured the internet, looking for any information about chickens, and we didn't see anything online, so we just assumed that we were allowed to have them," she said.

She said the village's rules are too restrictive and she will be giving her chickens to another family.

"We really don't want to put a 6-foot privacy fence around our yard, when one neighbor already has a privacy fence and then we live next to the creek and the (Kirk) School," she said. "Plus (there is) neighbor approval. It's just not realistic."