by Carrie Moritz, Gazette
On Monday, the Garretson City Council amended the animal ordinance to allow for chickens back in city limits.
In 2016, the council had voted on a completely re-vamped animal ordinance. At the time, an amendment was added to allow for chickens, but the amendment was removed after lack of a motion. The 2016 council then passed the ordinance with chickens on the prohibited animals list.
Two months ago, local community member Erica Dellman requested the council revisit the ordinance, and provided plenty of education. She and two other residents spoke in favor, and other than ensuring roosters would not be allowed, no residents spoke against changing the ordinance.
Several other communities in South Dakota have passed resolutions and ordinances allowing for the animals. Both Dellman and City Finance Officer Anna Uhl pointed out that chickens have caused very few issues in these communities.
The ordinance sets some parameters for care and keeping of the birds, including the requirements of coop and chicken run sizes.
A maximum of six chickens will be allowed for single-family dwellings with less than an acre of land within city limits, and eight chickens for an acre or more of land.
The premises the birds occupy are required to be clean from filth, garbage, and anything that may attract rodents. Smells that exceed the property may be subjected to code enforcement, which has a one-strike policy for revocation. Any person who has a code violation within the past twelve months may be denied a license, and a building permit is required in order to erect a coop and a run. The run will be required to be at least five feet high in order to obstruct visibility of the animals to neighbors and the traveling public.
Liability also falls with owners; if a coop is attacked by wild animals the owner is responsible for clean-up and repair. Coops attacked by a neighborhood pet are the responsibility of the pet owner.
"I'm not opposed to chickens," said city councilor Bill Hoskins. "I know there's been a tradition of chickens in the community."
Hoskins voted in favor of the amendment back in 2016. In Monday's vote, the council voted nearly unanimously in favor of the ordinance related directly to fowl, with only councilor Tom Godbey voting against (councilor Dave Bonte was absent). No reason for the rejection was given by Godbey.
Noise ordinance rejected
During the same meeting, the council voted down a noise ordinance measure that had been under discussion for the past several months. Council member Hoskins stated he was not in favor for a noise ordinance due to enforcement difficulties, and other council members agreed.
"Personally, I think it's going to be hard to monitor," said councilor Jodi Gloe. "We'd be opening ourselves up to more complaints that the city office is going to have to address."
When asked by the Mayor whether anyone in the audience had any input for or against the measure, there was no answer. Council members indicated they were upset there had been no input from the community whether a noise ordinance should even be implemented.
"They are all real good points," responded councilor Greg Franka. "If it's one person arguing with their neighbor, I'm not sure it's worth having a whole ordinance over it."
To put the matter to rest, the council moved and seconded, then rejected the ordinance unanimously.
The next meeting of the city council will be held on Monday, January 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the American Legion.
