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Green City Council adopts smaller-lot backyard-chicken ordinance after debate
Summary
After divided debate about property rights and homeowner-association impacts, Green City Council approved an ordinance reducing the minimum lot size for backyard chickens to 20,000 square feet (0.45 acres), with limits, inspections and a 100-permit cap; the measure passed 4–2 as amended.
Council adopted an amendment to the City of Green's animal-husbandry ordinance that reduces the minimum lot size for keeping backyard hens from 2 acres to 20,000 square feet (about 0.45 acres) and establishes limits, setbacks, an annual inspection requirement and a 100-permit cap.
The council president summarized the change as the product of a multi-step process prompted by a citizen petition and said the goal was to allow residents to produce a sustainable food source at home while adding safeguards: "Basically it takes our current ordinance down from 2 acres to 20,000 square feet ... and it includes regulations to minimize any nuisance created by this," the council president said during the committee report.
Council members split over whether the reduction was too aggressive. Council member Miller said he remained concerned the change could spark neighbor conflicts: "Taking something that exists and reducing it ... has a possibility of creating conflict between residents," Miller said, urging caution even as he praised the deliberative process. Council member Babbitt said she supported the ordinance but raised separate objections about criminal penalties in recent property legislation, arguing fines or liens might be more appropriate than misdemeanor sanctions: "I don't agree that [a misdemeanor] is the right consequence in property-related matters," Babbitt said.
Supporters said the ordinance struck a balance between property rights and nuisance controls. Council member Davidis, who presented planning committee discussion, said the draft respects Green's rural heritage while providing conservative safeguards such as setback limits, limits on hens tied to lot size, an annual inspection by zoning and the 100-permit cap to limit uptake.
The ordinance was adopted as amended (the record notes two amendments) by a 4–2 vote. Council members who voted to adopt said the changes had been shaped by public comment and committee revisions; members who opposed cited concerns about eroding expectations tied to prior lot-size restrictions and potential HOA impacts. The council also noted there would be additional public information as the program is implemented.
The ordinance text amends section 157.0862 (agricultural uses, animal husbandry and keeping of livestock) of the codified ordinances of the City of Green. The council declared the measure an emergency when adopting it, allowing immediate effect as recorded in tonight's action.
The council adjourned after finishing committee reports and other business; planning-committee items not decided tonight were scheduled for public hearing on June 24, 2025.
