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AGENDA ITEM – 1B Page 1 of 2 MEMORANDUM DATE: November 16, 2020 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers Dave Perrault, City Administrator FROM: Mike Mrosla, Community Development Manager/City Planner Joe Hartmann, Associate Planner SUBJECT: Keeping of chickens survey results discussion Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: Funding Source: N/A N/A N/A Council Should Consider the Following The City Council shall review and discuss the results of the recently completed chicken survey. Background At its September 21, 2020 Work Session, the City Council discussed public engagement and feedback options in regards to the keeping of backyard chickens. Council directed staff to create an online survey to gauge resident support. The survey launched on Monday, October 5 and closed Thursday, November 5, 2020. Survey Results 669 residents completed the survey. Of the respondents 75.2 percent indicated that they were in favor of allowing egg laying hens and roughly two-thirds of respondents indicated that they had experience or knew someone with experience with raising chickens in the past. Among the respondents who indicated their support, residents stated that their interest in chickens ranged from a desire to participate in a “greener” lifestyle to providing a learning experience for kids. The most important factor was a desire to access food quality, with 71.4 percent of respondents indicating that this was either “Important” or “Very Important” to them. Roughly less than half of all respondents indicated that they had concerns about changing the chicken ordinance, but some respondents indicated that they were concerned changes to the ordinance may result in noisy or unsanitary situations, or situations that could attract vermin. There was no clear majority of respondents who supported the same number of chickens that