The Wayland City Council will be seeking public input on whether to permit or ban chickens from being raised in city limits at a public forum set for Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. at the Wayland Middle School cafeteria.
The meeting was confirmed at the council meeting on Monday, Sept. 17, after the council heard a presentation by All Species Kinship of Battle Creek who recommended not following the trend of allowing chickens in the city due to a lack of awareness by urban farmers of poultry health conditions and proper containment.
According to ASK executive director Sophia DiPietro, cofounder of the group that rescues abandoned and neglected farmed animals, they are seeing an increase in neglect, hoarding and illegal abandonment due to urban or “hobby” farming.
If a chicken ordinance is approved by the city, she suggested the city set strict regulations and permit fees to cover the cost to the city when dealing with disease, vaccinations, improper housing, unsanitary conditions, manure management, attraction of rodents and wildlife, inability to identify hens from roosters, enforcement of complaints and inspections.
“I didn’t know that they stopped laying eggs after two years,” responded council woman Lisa Banas. “And how do we assess their health to know if they need to be removed?”
Mayor pro-tem Jennfier Antel thanked DiPietro for helping the council to make an informed decision.
“This has been a huge learning curve,” she said.
Following the public forum on Sept. 25, when council members will hear the pros and cons of urban chicken farming from residents, a guest speaker from the Michigan State University Extension office will be giving a pro-chicken presentation on Monday, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. prior to the regular council meeting at 7 p.m.
At the request of a few city residents, the council has been developing a chicken ordinance for the past year but it was tabled with the transition of a new city manager. New city manager Josh Eggleston brought the ordinance back to the table but to make an informed decision, has scheduled pro- and con-backyard poultry presentations and a neutral public forum for the council to make a final decision.
In other business the council:
• Approved the engineering cost of $67,350 to design capital improvements for Galaxy Estates and Marlo Lane/Geneva Drive road projects in 2019.
City engineer Mickey Bittner of Wightman Associates said the projects will be combined for bids to take advantage of economies to scale. Galaxy Estates scope is to mill the roadway, cap it and upgrade to ADA ramps. The Marlo/Geneva Drive project will be a road pulverization, replacement of ditches previously filled in, pave the road and driveway approaches and sidewalks on the west and south sides, which may require some tree trimming and removal.
• Approved Ben Adams to replace Abe Garcia on the planning commission and Sam Dykstra to replace Sheryl Hamilton on the compensation committee.
Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at vransbottom@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.
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