Havre one step away from urban chickens

The city of Havre is a step closer to allowing urban chickens after a vote of City Council Monday night.

Council voted 4-1 with three members absent to move forward to a public hearing on the question at 7 p.m. Monday, April 20, at City Hall.

Council could vote for final approval right after that.

Four council members spoke in favor of the plan with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

Council member Janet Trethewey supported the proposal, saying she thought people were afraid of change, and once the proposal was approved, there would be little notice paid to it.

She said she has spent the last three weeks visiting communities around the state while she was on business.

“I’d ask people if they allowed chickens in the city,” she said. She said people would look at her quizzically and say “Yes, I guess.”

None reported any problem, she said.

But Andrew Brekke, the Ordinance Committee chair who wrote the bill and shepherded it through his committee, said he couldn’t support it.

He said no one in his 4th Ward contacted him in support of the plan. While people in other wards told him they backed the proposal, they were outnumbered by people opposing it.

The committee tried to calm the fears of opponents by making the ordinance as restrictive as possible, Brekke said, but that just upset supporters, who say it is too strict.

“A lot of people in favor of chickens say this is a piece of trash,” he said.

The ordinance says chickens must be housed in coops that meet strict setback provisions and that coops must meet standards. City inspectors must sign off on the chickens.

Trethewey said that if people don’t want chickens in their nieghborhood, they can reject their neighbor’s application.

“They don't have to have chickens, and they can veto their neighbors having chickens,” she said.

Trethewey said she was happy to hear comments on the chicken issue, but wished she could hear more public input on other issues.

She said the city is trying to deal with massive infrastructure issues that will cost up to $40 million to repair, and each year council has to make tough decisions on the city’s budget. Council members hear little from the public.