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StarTribune -Print PagePage 1of 2
<br />Cottage Grove joins other cities in
<br />debating whether fowl is fair
<br />Article by: JIM ANDERSON
<br />Star Tribune
<br />November 26, 2012 -9:53 AM
<br />Duke and Donald, with their feathery silken green heads, hardly
<br />look the part of outlaws. Neither does Lucky, clucking contentedly
<br />in the arms of her 11-year-old owner.
<br />But, for the moment at least, they are. Or more specifically, the two
<br />Bob Burtman keeps ducks in his Cottage Grove back yard,
<br />two mallards named Donald and Duke and two Pekins named
<br />families who live on opposite sides of Cottage Grove and own four
<br />Butter and Sunshine.
<br />ducks and three chickens are --at least in the eyes of the city.
<br />Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune
<br />Cottage Grove has joined a long list of Twin Cities communities
<br />confronting the issue of whether, or how, to allow chickens and
<br />other fowl in residential areas. The City Council, on the eve of a
<br />holiday at which oversized farm fowl are guests of honor, weighed
<br />an ordinance change allowing the birds on lots of less than 5
<br />acres.
<br />Council members opted on Wednesday night to return the issue to
<br />the city's Planning Commission to come up with a
<br />recommendation, giving the birds running afoul of the law a
<br />reprieve --for now.
<br />At least two families in Cottage Grove, the Burtmans and the
<br />Aria Olson, 11, held Caramel, her favorite of three chickens
<br />the family has in the back yard of its Cottage Grove home.
<br />Olsons, have illicit fowl. They aren't trying to hide anything, but
<br />The city is weighing the issue of having farm animals within its
<br />borders.
<br />they are hoping the city will change the ordinance.
<br />Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune
<br />"I tell you what, I'd cry if the city told me I couldn't keep my ducks,"
<br />said Bob Burtman, who keeps two drake mallards and two white
<br />Pekin ducks in his back yard. "They've just become a part of our
<br />SO ... WHO WANTS CHICKENS?
<br />family."
<br />Specific rules vary, but this is where cities stand on
<br />allowing residents to have chickens and other fowl in
<br />Brian and Rykna Olson, and their daughter, Aria,, have three
<br />urban areas:
<br />chickens in a small coop at their home, also in a residential
<br />Yes:Anoka, Bloomington, Burnsville, Duluth, Eagan,
<br />Fridley, Maplewood, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, New
<br />neighborhood. They enjoy collecting their three daily eggs, and the
<br />Brighton, New Hope Northfield, Oakdale, Ramsey,
<br />Richfield*, Rosemount, Roseville, St. Paul, Shoreview,
<br />neighborhood kids like to come and visit the birds, Rykna Olson
<br />Stillwater.
<br />said.
<br />No: Andover, Apple Valley, Blaine, Brooklyn Center,
<br />Brooklyn Park,* Champlin, Chanhassen, Chaska,
<br />"They're smarter and have far more personality than I would have
<br />Columbia Heights, Coon Rapids, Cottage Grove,
<br />Crystal,* Eden Prairie, Edina, Elk River, Faribault,
<br />expected," Brian Olson said.
<br />Farmington, Forest Lake, Golden Valley,* Hastings,
<br />Hopkins, Inver Grove Heights, Lakeville, Lino Lakes,
<br />Maple Grove, Plymouth, Prior Lake, Savage,
<br />Both families had fowl last year, but recent complaints have
<br />Shakopee, South St. Paul, St. Louis Park, West St.
<br />Paul, White Bear Lake, Woodbury.
<br />prompted the city to consider the change --and hold off on
<br />enforcing the ordinance.
<br />*In the process of evaluating ordinances.
<br />Source: Cities of Cottage Grove, St. Paul, Minneapolis
<br />Burtman said he is baffled by the one complaint about his ducks.
<br />He surveyed all his nearby neighbors. Some said they make less
<br />noise than dogs, or they didn't even know he had them; others
<br />didn't care. His next-door neighbor, he said, particularly enjoys them. One neighbor, however, submitted video of ducks
<br />quacking as they sat on their nearby deck.
<br />The Olsons know of only one neighbor who has a problem with their chickens. But that's all it takes to make the issue a
<br />public policy question.
<br />Cottage Grove has been bandying about the issue for much of this year, said John McCool, a senior planner with the city.
<br />Last spring, the city surveyed 19 Twin Cities communities to gauge their stands on chickens and other farm animals. The
<br />survey was expanded to 52 communities in September.
<br />The comprehensive study looked at an array of issues: property values, which animals to allow and how many, lot size and
<br />proximity to neighbors, license costs, coop requirements, whether slaughtering is allowed, input from neighbors, waste
<br />disposal, regulation of egg sales and whether to allow only hens or both hens and roosters.
<br />The survey found that, of the 52 communities, about two-thirds have so far opted against allowing farm animals in urban
<br />settings.
<br />"Our advantage there is that, one-third of cities have already done this," McCool said. "So we're able to learn from the kinds
<br />of challenges of what they've already had to deal with."
<br />Part of the problem revealed in the survey, he said, is trying to create an ordinance that is fair to everyone. "If you allow
<br />chickens, then do you allow for other fowl?" he said. "And then, where do you draw that line?" In some cases, cities that have
<br />allowed chickens have then been confronted with demands to allow potbellied pigs, goats, sheep and pigeons.
<br />"What we found [in the survey] is that in every community, it's such a small percentage of people that want to do this,"
<br />McCool said. "But it becomes a big issue if a neighbor doesn't like it."
<br />Mayor Myron Bailey told the council Wednesday he had received a letter voicing concern about a "chicken fad," prompting
<br />him to survey his own neighbors.
<br />"The response was loudly and clearly, no way do they want chickens in their back yards."
<br />Jim Anderson • 651-925-5039 Twitter: @StribJAnderson
<br />http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=1804515612/14/2013
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