Charles City reconsidering residential poultry policy

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Tyler and Ashley Robbins are trying to get cooped up.

The Robbins approached the Charles City Council this week asking members to consider changing the city’s ordinance against keeping chickens within the city limits.

Motivated by more than just the rising price of eggs, Tyler Robbins explained that having a small flock of chickens would help manage pesky insects in their yard and serve as a way to teach responsibility to their children.

“I want them to understand the value of life and the value of responsibility,” he said.

The Robbins provided information from several neighboring cities that allow raising chickens, showing a range of policies that the city could adopt.

According to their research, Waverly allows for up to four chickens on a property and requires a $30 application fee. Mason City, meanwhile, allows up to 25 chickens on lots smaller than an acre.

Roosters are commonly excluded altogether due to their penchant for morning noise ordinance violations.

In Charles City, the city ordinance does not allow the keeping of chickens without council approval. Exceptions have been made in a couple of fringe cases, but previous councils have also declined such requests. In 2017, the council at the time voted to have nine chickens belonging to Rachel Colsch removed from the city limits after an anonymous complaint had been filed.

In that case, the council determined that Colsch was too far into a residential area to have livestock.

Robbins says that he lives in a more secluded area of town, has already discussed it with his neighbors, and has no plans to raise more than a handful of birds.

Mayor Dean Andrews offered that it may be time for the city to consider changing its policy entirely.

“I think there’s a lot more cities allowing chickens these days,” said Andrews. “I see it as something we might want to consider.”

Andrews suggested that city officials could peck at the matter and bring a proposal to the council that would suit Charles City.

The council, while generally supportive, did offer some preliminary concerns that would need to be addressed in an ordinance change. Council member DeLaine Freeseman cautioned that they consider safeguards to ensure neighborhoods aren’t afflicted by the strong smell of a chicken coop.

It was also brought up that the city could change its ordinance to broadly allow chickens or create a more narrow policy that would require city approval on a case-by-case basis. These questions will be further discussed once a preliminary set of regulations is drafted.

“We’ll cross that road when we get to it,” said Mayor Andrews.