Fowl is fair game? Village of Loami residents consider advisory referendum on chickens

Mike Holloway has had chickens at his Loami residence since shortly after he moved there in 1976.

At some point, Holloway doesn't remember when, they were outlawed in the Sangamon County village about 15 miles southwest of Springfield, but Holloway was "grandfathered" in and allowed to keep his chickens.

Loami voters will consider an advisory referendum Tuesday about allowing chickens back in the village's limits. The village of Clearlake and New Berlin also have referendums. 

Clearlake residents will decide whether to dissolve the village, an issue that has been on the ballot previously. Clearlake takes up about three blocks off Old Route 36.

New Berlin voters will consider issuing $23.5 million in bonds for a variety of improvement projects for the school district.

"I hope they vote them back," said Holloway about chickens in Loami. "Other towns are starting to do this. I think people want them."

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Shauna Johnson of Loami does.

"My argument for getting it is that it saves (costs) for the eggs," Johnson said. "I have eight grandkids. You can grow your own meat. I love to cook. I used to have ducks. I used their eggs to bake."

Bob Kaaz, who was raised in Loami, said he planned to vote against the referendum.

"I don't know that I'd want them next door to me, put it that way," said Kaaz, 73. "I know we're in a small community and that, but it depends on who has the chickens. Some people will take care of things and others just let them go.

"Once it's opened up, it's opened up."

Kaaz remembered a time when horses, sheep and cows were allowed in the village before being voted out.

"You couldn't replace them (once the animals died)," Kaaz pointed out. "People were asking why that wasn't that done with chickens."

Kaaz said he knows Holloway and didn't think there had been an issue with the way he maintains his chickens.

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"I'm not saying if it got opened up that everyone would handle it the same way he has," Kaaz said. "That's the way I feel. It depends on who's raising them and what they do with it."

The problem, Johnson added, is that people weren't keeping chickens confined and were letting them run free. 

"If there are stipulations to that, I think it's a great idea," she said.

Edward Riedel has also lived in the village for a little over 40 years. He already voted "yes" on the referendum.

"It's not like everyone is going to put them in," Reidel reasoned. "I just didn't see a problem if someone wanted to raise a small number of chickens in their yard."

County board member Craig Hall lives about three-and-a-half miles outside of Loami, so he isn't voting on the referendum Tuesday. Hall's district represents that area, though, and he has a background in farming.

"I would vote for it if I lived in town," Hall said. "Chicken production has become sort of a popular thing."

If the referendum passes, Hall said he would like to see a conditional use permit set up with a nominal fee that could become permanent zoning.

"My thing is it gives an opportunity to see what kind of neighbor you're going to be," Hall said. "If you prove us right, great. If you prove us wrong, it could get out of control."

Holloway has about 20 chickens now, but he used to have around 100 pullets and roosters when his kids were showing them around the Midwest.

Holloway said he eats natural and organic foods also raises rabbits and has about three dozen beehives, selling honey to small markets in Springfield. He gives chicken eggs to his kids and friends.

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Holloway allows the chickens to roam within a sizable enclosure in his back yard but puts them in coops at night.

"I've never had anyone complain about the chickens," he said. 

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.