Jan. 7, 2019 – West Bend, WI – For the third time in his tenure as Mayor of West Bend Kraig Sadownikow cast the deciding vote and this time it was on the issue of whether to allow chickens in West Bend.
“The property rights topic is important to me,” said Sadownikow. “We allow lots of other types of animals in the community that have less restrictions than chickens do. We have lots of other fowl in the city; most folks will recognize there’s a growing population of turkeys around West Bend and chickens give a great opportunity for education for kids, with the collection of eggs and the number of folks taking advantage of proposed legislation will probably be pretty limited.”
The vote that led to the mayor’s tiebreaker was 4 – 4; Aldermen voting in favor of allowing chickens included aldermen Mike Christian, Andrew Chevalier, Chris Jenkins and Justice Madl.
Alderman opposing chickens included John Butschlick, Rich Kasten, Steve Hoogester, and Roger Kist.
I know, I know… on the headline… groan. I couldn’t help myself. In any case, the West Bend Common Council will be taking up changes to the chicken ordinance tomorrow. The Washington County Insider has the details:
Jan. 6, 2019 – West Bend, WI – Here we go again. Monday night, Jan. 7 the West Bend Common Council will address the chicken issue as aldermen vote on changes to the ordinance and whether to finally allow chickens in the community.
The issue was tabled at the Dec. 17, 2018 meeting. Aldermen had some questions and there was extensive discussion. Click HERE to read more and watch the meeting video.
Changes were made to the proposed ordinance (see below) or click HERE for item 8. Monday, another vote will be taken on the issue.
The changes would essentially allow city residents to keep up to four hens (no roosters) in a coop on their property after getting a permit from the city. The City would notify neighbors of the permit request – presumably to give them the opportunity to protest against the permit if they want.
For the life of me, I have no idea why people get so exercised by chickens. This seems to be have been a rolling controversy in community after community as some city residents want to grow their own food. Chickens are just a step beyond having your own vegetable garden. But controversial it is…
As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care if people want chickens. It is their property and they can do what they want with it as long as it does not interfere with someone else’s property rights. We already have nuisance laws, so the need to license and regulate chicken coops seems idiotic and a waste of taxpayer money to me. There will only be a handful of people who actually try to raise chickens (I’m sure several will try, realize what a pain it is, and quit shortly thereafter). If it becomes a problem, then deal with the individuals accordingly.
