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Coppell council declines to direct staff to draft poultry ordinance amid state preemption concerns
Summary
Council members discussed whether to allow backyard poultry but expressed concern state law could preempt local regulation after one year; a majority declined to ask staff to draft an ordinance, leaving current prohibition in place.
Council members discussed a request to consider amending the city code to allow poultry in residential areas and whether doing so would leave the city unable to regulate those operations.
A presenter (Speaker 13) summarized recent state changes that define "agricultural operation" to include raising or keeping livestock or poultry and noted statutory language that may limit municipal regulatory authority once an operation has been in existence for one year. Multiple speakers raised concerns that adopting a local ordinance to allow poultry could trigger state preemption and remove the city’s ability to set coop setbacks, limits on the number of birds, or noise rules.
An unidentified speaker (Speaker 6) cited an attorney general opinion and warned: "if we open the door, we may lose the ability to regulate it." Council members asked clarifying questions about grandfathering for existing chickens; staff said the city does not currently recognize any lawful, grandfathered poultry and that enforcement and presence of birds in the city are an unresolved practical matter.
When the mayor asked whether anyone wanted to direct staff to draft an ordinance that would remove poultry from the list of prohibited animals, a majority signaled no. The mayor summarized the council’s posture: "We've got a majority of no," leaving the existing code prohibiting poultry unchanged and without a staff-directed ordinance draft.
Council members said they were concerned about ceding regulatory control to state-authorized rules and to institutions (Texas A&M was mentioned as a state-designated developer of urban farming guidance) and preferred to await clearer state guidance or statutory fixes before changing local code.
