Madeira Beach favors backyard chickens

MADEIRA BEACH

Chickens may be coming to roost in this beach community.

Last month, Daniel Ryan ran afoul of the city's ban on domesticated fowl. He was cited for a code violation and given until Thursday to remove his chickens from the city.

He recently asked the City Commission to change its zoning to let him keep his flock — eight hens in the back yard and two others with chicks in the side yards.

Mayor Pat Shontz presented the case to her colleagues.

"The question is," she said, "in this era that we live in where everything is going green, how would you people feel about Dan having some chickens in his back yard?"

Most members of the commission said it might be a good idea and instructed their attorney to prepare an ordinance that would allow residents to keep hens, but not roosters, in their back yards. Only Commissioner Steve Kochick was opposed.

The majority vote pleased Ryan.

"My neighbors love the chickens," he said. "My property manager loves my chickens, the property owner loves my chickens. My neighbor to the south feeds my chickens and thinks they are the greatest. … They lay a lot of eggs and I share them with my neighbors."

In making his appeal to keep his brood, Ryan pointed out nearby cities — St. Petersburg, Dunedin and Gulfport — where chickens are allowed in residential areas.

But Kochick wasn't moved. "This is a residential community. This could get so totally out of hand, it's so crazy. We will hear clucking going on all around."

Hens, but not roosters, were formally accepted in Gulfport last year at the urging of a family who kept them as pets in their back yard.

Gulfport City Manager Jim Reilly said Friday that since the city allowed up to 10 chickens to be kept by residents, the city hasn't been overrun by the birds. Only a couple of residents are raising chickens.

"We have not had a problem with them," Reilly said.

Kochick worried that chickens in a tourist community would be "so stinky, so noisy," and suggested that people who want chickens should go live on a farm.

Vice Mayor Terry Lister said he grew up on a farm and has a soft spot for chickens. Commissioners Nancy Oakley and Carol Reynolds joined in the pro-chicken sentiment, saying they have no problem with allowing them in the city.

The proposed new ordinance allowing hens is expected to come before the commission at its Aug. 3 workshop.

In the meantime, any code enforcement action against Ryan will be postponed until the commission reaches a decision.

City Manager W.D. Higginbotham Jr. said last week in an e-mail to the commission, city staff and the city attorney that he is not in favor of allowing chickens in the city. He forwarded information provided by a chicken expert that cites potential odor and noise problems. He asked for feedback from any commissioners who may change their minds.

If chickens are eventually permitted, the current ban against turkeys, geese, horses, mules, cows, sheep, hogs, calves and "wild and untamed" animals likely will remain in effect.