CITY GATHERING INPUT ON ALLOWING RESIDENTIAL CHICKENS
The decision-making process on whether Platte City will allow residential chickens in the city is underway, though no hard time line is in place.
“It’s much too soon to reach judgement on the final outcome of this issue,” Platte City Mayor Steve Hoeger told The Landmark last week.
The city currently is in the midst of a 90-day code enforcement moratorium. Current code does not allow the raising of chickens in the city, but the enforcement moratorium means you can currently do so without punishment.
That 90-day moratorium expires on Aug. 27, but according to the mayor, it is likely that moratorium will be extended.
“The public safety committee is reviewing a 90-day extension with the intent to place that ordinance on the board of aldermen’s Aug. 26 agenda,” Hoeger told The Landmark.
This week, the city is holding a planning and zoning hearing on the topic of chickens. That meeting was set for Tuesday night, after this edition of The Landmark had already gone to press. The print edition went to press Tuesday, a day earlier than normal.
Hoeger described the Tuesday night planning and zoning meeting as ‘the first step in a multi-part process to address increased resident interest in residential chickens, both in favor and against.”
The mayor added: “The goal of the process is to allow residents to have direct involvement in determining whether or not residential chickens should be allowed in Platte City, and if so, under what conditions.”
“The board has not made any decisions regarding residential chickens but would like residents to be involved at the earliest stages of the decision making process,” Hoeger said.
Platte City’s current chicken regulations are in the land use/zoning code that essentially prohibits residential chickens by imposing a two acre minimum lot size, a condition that is met by only three parcels inside the city limits. This means the current zoning condition essentially bans chickens in residential districts without directly specifying that a ban exists, city officials have acknowledged.
The land use/zoning code, including the conditions on chickens, has been in place since 2004.
Tuesday night’s public hearing and planning and zoning action is a procedural move to shift responsibility for regulating chickens from the appointed planning and zoning commission, who is responsible for enforcing land use/zoning code, to the elected mayor and board of aldermen who can more directly respond to resident issues, Hoeger has explained.
“This first move (at Tuesday nights planning and zoning meeting) does not change the regulatory impact on chickens, but maintains the current prohibition until the board of aldermen can work with residents to reach a more clear cut decision.
Public comments were set to be accepted at Tuesday night’s hearing.
“In the past, the city has largely stayed away from enforcing the zoning restrictions on residential chickens until its annual spring code enforcement sweep this year. The city was more aware of this issue due to citizen reports of residential chickens. In looking more closely during the code sweep, the city found that residential chickens were more widespread than previously known,” the mayor said.
Hoeger said after visiting with other Missouri cities, it’s clear that chickens have become much more widespread over the past five years and have become an area of increased resident interest, both in favor and against.
“Due to the unexpectedly large number of code violations regarding chickens found in the spring code enforcement review, the board of aldermen recognized that this issue was of significant concern to many residents on both sides of the issue. Rather than proceeding with fines and other code enforcement actions, the board approved the 90-day enforcement stoppage at its May meeting to provide time to work with residents on this issue,” Hoeger explained.
“The board knows this is an important issue to many of our residents and it is too important for the board simply to impose any outcome without having residents involved in the process,” the mayor added.
After this week’s public hearing, extending the enforcement moratorium is the second step, he said. And then will come a series of committee and full board discussions.
“Although the dates for those meetings have not been finalized, they will occur within the next 90 days and will continue to involve Platte City residents,” Hoeger remarked.
