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Ferndale weighing ordinance changes for chicken farms

Code rewrite is next, then council to vote

By MEGHA SATYANARAYANA and BILL LAITNER FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

   The Ferndale Planning Commission voted 7-0 on Tuesday night to recommend to the City Council that it allow much more lenient rules for building chicken coops and keeping as many as three hens in residents’ backyards.

   “Like any pet, if they’re managed, it’ll be fine,” commission chairwoman Sara Roediger said.

   A council vote isn’t expected until the city’s code enforcement staff writes language covering inspections and permits, a process that will take at least a month.

   Under the old ordinance, residents can keep chickens if a coop is150 feet from their residence. But that rule keeps chickens from about 90% of residential lots, said Laura Mikulski, who started the campaign to the change the rules.

   The city’s average lot is about 40 by 110 feet. The new ordinance would let residents keep hens (no roosters) in an enclosed space that is at least 10 feet from a house.

   Mikulski said she knows of about a half-dozen people who are eager to become chicken farmers, including her.

   “I like omelets and would like to have fresh eggs on a basically daily basis,” she said.

   Among area cities that allow hen keeping are Hazel Park, Madison Heights, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Rochester Hills. But many places continue to rule out anything deemed livestock.

   In West Bloomfield, trustees voted 7-0 Monday after only a minute of discussion to keep chickens out.

   “We didn’t squawk much at all. We thought it was a foul idea,” Trustee Steven Kaplan quipped this week.

   And in the Village of Milford, 93-year-old Archie Noon paid a $50 fine last month and has until Oct. 16 to get rid of his three hens, after a district judge said that they violated the city’s livestock ban.

   “I’m preparing a new ordinance that I will be submitting to the Village Council, and if they don’t accept it I’ll start a petition drive,” Noon said Wednesday.

   April McGrath, Ferndale’s new city manager, said she dealt with similar concerns about noise, waste and vermin as director of administrative services in Ypsilanti when residents sought to change their ordinance.

   “There’s been very little negative outcome,” she said of the changes in Ypsilanti. “You’re not going to see 5,000 people going out and getting chickens.”