Chicken Ordinance Struts Forward

An ordinance that would allow Cheyenne residents to keep chickens in their backyards is one vote away from becoming law.

After pecking at it for about an hour Wednesday night, the City Council's Committee of the Whole voted 4 to 2 to move forward with a heavily amended version of the ordinance.

"We went from five hens to six hens," said Councilman Dicky Shanor. "That's because we will amend the other ordinance on the books that prohibits the sale of chickens within the city limits in quantities under a dozen. So that'll take care of that issue."

"The other is the zoning," Shanor added. "Instead of designating specific zone districts in where you can have chickens, if you're on a single family dwelling unit lot you can have chickens."

Councilmen Jim Brown and Annette Williams voted against the ordinance. Councilmen Dr. Mark Rinne and Jeff White were not present.

"I'd say 92 to 95 percent of our city is covered by covenants that prohibit poultry and farm animals within their subdivision," said Brown. "So anybody who ends up with chickens and their covenants say no, their neighbors would have to file a suit against them to get rid of the chickens."

"There are a lot of restrictive covenants and HOA restrictions from neighborhood to neighborhood," said Shanor. "It's ultimately the responsibility of the landowners involved to do that due diligence on their end and determine whether there are restrictions on chickens."

The ordinance will be on third and final reading when the City Council meets Monday night at 6:00 p.m.