Residents ask council to OK an ordinance to allow raising chickens in the city

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 — Bardstown resident Nick Kipper and a sizable group of supporters attended Tuesday evening’s Bardstown CIty Council meeting to lobby for making city ordinances more urban agriculture-friendly.

Bardstown resident Nick Kipper speaks to the Bardstown CIty Council about a draft ordinance that would allow city residents to raise chickens.

After explaining to the council his involvement in raising chickens as a hobby, he explained how a draft of a proposed ordinance would work to allow residents to raise chickens in a responsible and regulated manner. At the end of his presentation, Mayor Dick Heaton asked if anyone opposed making a change to allow chickens in the city.

Former Councilwoman Annrosalie Ballard said she opposed allowing chickens in the city limits. Ballard currently serves a member of the city’s Code Enforcement Board.

“I’m not saying you all won’t be responsible, but there’s always somebody who is not,” Ballard told urban ag supporters.

She said her yard is full of dog feces “because people don’t follow the rules and they don’t pick up after their dog, and I don’t appreciate it.”

Ballard asked if chickens were allowed, what would stop people from raising other small farm animals?

“What’s going to stop the rabbits? We ran the family out that was raising rabbits,” she said. “They weren’t bothering anybody years ago. He was raising them to eat … he chose to go to the county because there, he could raise his rabbits.”

Ballard said it was a home buyer’s responsibility to know what the local ordinances prohibit when they decide to buy a home inside the city limits.

“We have ordinances,” she said. “Move to the county, you should have investigated more to find out (about local ordinances).”

Ballard, who lives on Flaget in the city’s historic district, said the city doesn’t have the manpower to enforce the regulations it already has.

Annrosalie Ballard, a resident of the city’s historic district, speaks against an proposal to change a city ordinance to allow residents to raise chickens in the city limits.

“The rules are the rule, the ordinances are the ordinances, but if you want to raise chickens, go to the county.”” she said. “I hate to shoot anyone’s dream down, but move to the county. You should have investigated more before you bought your home.”

“Life’s not fair.”

Councilwoman Kecia Copeland called Ballard’s comments harsh.

In her examination of urban agriculture, Copeland said that urban agriculture and chickens aren’t just allowed in larger cities, but actually encouraged. She noted the irony that big cities allow an agricultural practice that a rural town like Bardstown does not.

Copeland called for keeping an open mind when considering a change that would allow residents to keep chickens. She praised Kipper and those who support him for their work to draft an ordinance that brought in the involvement of the local ag extension office.

She said she supports making chances to allow city residents to responsibly keep chickens, and called on the council to be open to the residents’ request to allow keeping chickens in the city.

The council has the draft ordinance, but was not prepared Tuesday evening to take action on the matter.

WHAT IS URBAN AGRICULTURE? Urban agriculture includes many types of agricultural pursuits conducted a small scale on one’s own property. These activities can include more than just raising a garden, and can include raising small animals like chickens or rabbits and backyard beekeeping.

But city ordinance 90.24 — which dates back to 1950 — prohibits keeping livestock in the city limits, including horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese or other livestock.

Kipper ran afoul of this ordinance several years ago when a code enforcement officer investigating a complaint about free-range chickens found Kipper’s hens in their coop on property he owns and gardens on West Daugherty Avenue.

As a result, Kipper gave up his hens.

DRAFT ORDINANCE PROVISIONS. But Kipper and others who spoke Tuesday night are asking the council consider a new ordinance that would provide a way for residents who wish to do so to keep a limited number of chickens.

The local UK ag extension office would serve as the agency that would handle applications for permits to keep the animals and also inspect the proposed location for the animals, Kipper explained.

Kipper told the council that urban agriculture is a growing trend that began to take off in the wake of the recession and that chickens are one type of livestock that can be raised on small residential lots without infringing on neighboring property owners.

Many larger cities — including Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green and many others around the country — have embraced urban agriculture as a way for residents to encourage residents who wish to do so to raise their own food to improve their food security and improve their access to wholesome, safe and locally grown food.

“There’s a growing movement to find locally sourced food, and there’s nothing more local than your own back yard,” he said.

Kipper said he has more than 900 people following a social media page he has about urban chickens who support his desire to raise them in the city on his property in a responsible manner.

Kipper said his interest in chickens isn’t profit, but as a hobby. He keeps a garden, enjoys planting flowers and “digging in the dirt, that’s what I do,” he told the council.

Objections to chickens usually center on one of three areas — sight, sound or smell, Kipper said.

“They don’t want an eyesore, they don’t want a lot of racket, and they don’t want to smell livestock next door.”

The chickens won’t cause these problems unless they’re overcrowded, he explained. Chickens are less of a nuisance than dogs, he said.

“They’re a lot cleaner than dogs, they’re quieter than dogs. They don’t howl at the fire trucks, they don’t bark at people walking down the sidewalk, they don’t get loose and attack people, and they don’t bark at night.”

The draft ordinance Kipper provided the council would limit city residents to no more than 12 hens on a city lot. No roosters would be allowed.

The draft ordinance would require residents to obtain a permit, which would be issued by the UK extension office. If owners don’t continue to meet the permit requirements, they may lose the permit. Nuisance complaints would be investigated just as they are now, he said.

According to the draft, a coop or housing for the chickens would be required to be 15 feet from the property lines, and at least 25 feet from any residence.

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