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Springville council amends chicken ordinance, raises minimum to six and updates tier limits
Summary
After extensive public comment, the Springville City Council voted to amend municipal code to set a six-bird minimum, restore duplex/twin-home eligibility, remove a sales prohibition and set tiered maxima (10 and 16 hens) based on lot size; the measure passed by roll call.
Springville City Council on March 3 adopted changes to the city's chicken ordinance, clarifying how many hens residents may keep and where.
The council voted to amend Section 3-7-801 to increase the small-lot minimum from four to six hens, restore eligibility for duplex and twin-home properties, remove a prohibition on the sale of excess eggs, and set new tiered maximums for larger lots (10 hens for 12,000'2,000?/12,000'15,999 sq ft and 16 hens for lots of 16,000 square feet or greater). The ordinance was recorded as No. 04-2026 and passed by roll call; the recorded yes votes included Mike, Logan, Karen, Jake and Mindy.
The change followed more than an hour of public comment in which residents urged fewer restrictions, higher maximums for larger properties, and flexibility for family food production. "We start saying you can have this and you can have that and we don't know what people's needs are," said Karen Anderson, who described raising chickens with her grandchildren and urged the council to "tread lightly" when limiting backyard livestock. Brandon Ashby, another commenter, told the council he favored starting the scale at six rather than four because "four eggs doesn't take care of a family."
Laura, a city staff member presenting the proposal, told the council staff had found confusion between two sections of the municipal code and recommended clarifying intent rather than reintroducing permitting. "Six chickens has worked," Laura said during her presentation, recommending adjustments to the draft to reflect typical lot sizes and enforcement practice.
Council members discussed technical points around R115 and A1 zoning (the separate animal-keeping rules tied to larger lots) and whether Title 3 or Title 11 should be the primary home for the language. The mayor summarized council sentiment before the motion: "It looks like the numbers on the grid would go six..." and invited staff to prepare the ordinance language for adoption.
The ordinance removes the subsection that barred income from egg sales for small flocks; council discussion noted existing business-license and home-occupation rules would apply if a resident scaled up operations. Several council members and staff also recommended a longer-term code harmonization to reconcile Title 3 and Title 11 references, a process that would require planning-commission review if land-use code is altered.
The council also directed staff to continue work to clarify the interaction of animal-unit provisions for very large lots (R115/A1) and residential egg-production limits in a future ordinance update. The measure takes effect according to the city's ordinance-adoption rules; staff said they would circulate finalized ordinance language to reflect the council's consensus.
