Kingwood takes first step toward changing ordinance to allow chickens in town

Last month, Kingwood resident Brianna Conley asked council to consider amending city ordinances to allow residents to keep chickens. She offered to research some of the restrictions other towns place on keeping chickens and said she would seek out signatures for a petition to show public support for the change, if council gave her guidelines on how many signatures to get.

At its meeting last week, council voted unanimously, with council Members Josh Fields and Tina Turner absent, to send the draft to its attorney to be written in proper form. Council does not know how long it will take to get the finished ordinance back from the attorney.

Recorder Bill Robertson and Councilman Mike Lipscomb worked on the draft. The proposed ordinance would require people who want to keep chickens to get the written approval of neighboring property owners. That includes the owners of vacant lots that may abut the property where the chickens would be housed.

“I feel like some people might just say no just because they can,” Conley said.

“I think that would prevent a lot of aggravation though,” Robertson said of seeking approval in advance of putting up a coop. “That’s why I put it in there. Because when your neighbors aren’t happy with what you’re doing, all you’re going to do is stir up the neighborhood, and it just goes from there.”

Some council members have previously said they heard from as many people opposed to allowing chickens in town as there were those who favored changing the ordinance to allow them.

“If somebody was being completely unreasonable, and they have an acre of land, and the chickens were so far away from their property that they won’t be a bother, will that be something that could be approved by” council, Conley asked. If you have a lot of land, you should be able to work with your neighbors on where to place the chickens so they are not opposed, Robertson said.

“I think neighbors should be able to work and come to mutual agreement,” he said. “It affects the value of property and everything. There are a lot of things to consider.”

The proposed ordinance also limits keeping chickens to single-family residences. Multi-unit properties, such as apartment complexes, or mixed use commercial/residential properties could keep chickens.

“To me, it’s pretty reasonable,” Mayor Jean Guillot said. “We’re going from not allowing chickens to letting people have them. We’re setting some rules. It’s just like if you wanted to build a shed or something, you have to follow the rules.”

Council did not ask Conley to continue getting signatures on a petition, supporting chickens in town, saying passage of the ordinance should be enough.