Board of Aldermen 12-11-2018 Page 34
Our Code Enforcement Department does not have the staff to go out and police any of our ordinances
and they will tell you if ever talk to them, they will be the first to say they are a complaint driven agency.
So they rely on people to call and complain about things before they do anything. So what we are
doing is we are creating, what | am afraid of, is a source of complaints and those complaints are going
to have to come from neighbors. So now you've got neighbors calling the Code Enforcement Agency
complaining about other neighbors. My experience is that people are very reluctant to complain, they'll
complain to us, I’ve had people call me and say “don’t use my name, my neighbor has chickens which |
think is illegal currently, but | don’t want to call because | don’t want to cause a problem with my
neighbor’.
| think the idea where you know the idea may be a good one, but | think we are creating a problem for
our citizens and so that’s why | am against it.
Alderman Dowd
Couple of things, | am going to support this, | think it lends itself to having some issues but | have talked
to Director Marchant and her department is fully behind it and Code Enforcement falls under that. So
we will see how it goes. Most of the properties in your Ward already can have chickens, R30 and R40,
it is already allowed without some of the restrictions that are in this new ordinance. So like | said | am
going to support it and give it a wait and see and see what happens.
Alderman Klee
I’ve gone back and forth on this bill but | am going to tell you and | have said this before as a person
who grew up with chickens in my backyard and across the street at my Papa’s house, there is an odor,
it is not just the odor of the rain it is the odor of the hot sun. But we did build in that they need to clean
and they need to maintain it and so on. Code Enforcement is not going to be going out annually that
everybody has kept up with it. Instead what we are going to is much what Alderman Jette said, it is the
neighbor tattletale game, a neighbor has to call.
| can tell you as a person who has received those late night phone calls, because someone’s dog is
barking too loud or because somebody's dog jumped over a fence and did this or that and they don’t
want to be the bad guy calling the Police and kind of asking me to intervene for them which | do,
reluctantly | do. Maybe it is right, maybe it is wrong; | have other issues with it. | wish we had been
able to do what Alderman Tencza had requested making a larger space. | Know that would have
eliminated some people. | too have gotten phone calls, those are that | would guess say are for it,
basically say I’m not against it and | don’t have a problem with it, I’ll go to my neighbor’s house and get
fresh eggs. They are not going to do it themselves.
Then | get the people who vehemently say | absolutely do not want this in my yard, next to me, across
the street from me, etc. So | don’t believe that | will be supporting this bill.
Alderman Lopez
| am in support of it an Urban Chicken Act, | think it should be focused on the urban areas, using terms
like congested or square footage or whatever, | think the idea was to expand access to fowls to people
in different areas that have previously had that access restricted. If the Code Enforcement Department
and Director Marchant oversees it, is not necessarily against it and was essentially drive the bill, | don’t
necessarily think we need to speak for them. | think they know their job pretty well, they respond to calls
all the time, noise complaints particularly, dogs being a pretty common one. | don’t really see all of
those people who are complaining about chickens suddenly turning around and buying them and
having chickens, so | don’t think we are going to get a stampede of people who are owning chickens. |
think it is just going to be an optional thing.
And | can smell dog poop. | don’t think this is unique to people who are blind and have heightened
senses or anything But that is something that is okay in this City, we have like an entire plastic bag
