Oxford Village residents are one step closer to being able to raise chickens in their backyards.

Last week, council voted 5-0 to approve the first reading of a proposed, three-page ordinance that would allow for the keeping of chickens on residential properties (for the text, see below). The next step is a second reading and council vote whether to adopt it.

Approval of the first reading followed a public hearing on the topic during which only one resident, Bonnie Staley, spoke.

“I am very much against (having) chickens in our village . . . They smell. They bring rats. They bring insects,” said Staley, who also fears they will attract coyotes.

Staley suggested people who want to raise chickens should “go buy acreage” elsewhere.

“There’s no reason to have them in our little village unless you want rats and coyotes roaming around,” she said.

Staley made it clear what she will do if she discovers a chicken roaming around her Dayton St. home.

“I’m going to kill any chicken I find on my property,” she said.

Village President Joe Frost, who originally brought this idea to council, noted that “a number of communities have chicken ordinances,” including Holly, Ortonville and Ferndale.

“We tout (ourselves) as a rural community, but then we hear that we don’t want chickens, which doesn’t seem to make sense to me,” he said.

Much of council’s discussion on the subject centered around whether to allow or prohibit slaughtering. The practice is prohibited in the current draft language.

This led Councilwoman Maureen Helmuth to asked the question, “What do I do with my old chicken (when it stops laying eggs)?”

Councilwoman Kate Logan indicated she’s “personally against” allowing slaughtering due to the “close proximity” of residential lots in the village.

She understands that hunters clean their game in garages, which means it’s done “somewhat indoors,” but she’s “never personally seen that (herself) driving up and down the streets in the village.”

Logan said there’s an “abundance” of “animal sanctuaries” that will take in chickens that are no longer wanted or of use, plus there are “tons of processing places” that can harvest their meat.

“I’d be happy to get a list of those for people that are interested in actually processing the chickens for food,” she said. Logan believes “the majority” of people who will want to take advantage of this proposed ordinance will raise chickens for “farm-fresh eggs,” not meat.

But, Helmuth pointed out, “If you’re going to have a chicken, eventually, you’re going to have to kill that chicken.”

Frost indicated he “could go either way” on the slaughtering issue.

“If a neighbor wants to slaughter their chicken in their basement or their garage, I really don’t care if they’re doing that,” he said.

Village Manager Joseph Madore informed council that language was added to the proposed ordinance to grant the municipality “the right to inspect” any property where a person has been issued a permit to raise chickens “to ensure compliance.” He said that addition is important because “how can we investigate if we have zero access” to the property.

Village attorney Bob Davis noted residents who have their permits revoked would be given a certain amount of time to get rid of their chickens and if they fail to comply, Oakland County Animal Control would be called in to remove them.

Proposed chicken ordinance

Under the proposed ordinance, residents living in detached, single-family homes would be allowed to have up to four chickens “for personal use only and not for any business or commercial use.” Residents would only be permitted to have hens. Roosters would be “prohibited” as would the slaughtering of chickens.

The chickens would be required to “remain within, at all times, a fully-enclosed coop and fenced enclosure, with a maximum area of 300 square feet for both.” Coops cannot be located “within any side or front yard” and cannot be “closer than 30 feet from any dwelling on a neighboring property or ten feet from any property line.”

The proposed ordinance outlines “requirements” for coops, including there must be a minimum of 4 square feet of space per chicken; they must be constructed in such a way “to prevent rats, mice or other rodents or vermin from being harbored underneath (it) or within the walls;” and they “must be clean, dry, odor-free and kept in a neat and sanitary condition.”

As far as the “waste materials” generated by the keeping of chickens, which the ordinance defines as “feed, manure and litter,” the proposed ordinance requires them to be “disposed of in an environmentally-responsible manner.”

“The materials can be composted or bagged and disposed of in the trash,” the draft language states. “It is not acceptable to pile waste materials on the property.”

In order “to ensure continued compliance” with ordinance standards, residents wishing to keep chickens would be required to annually obtain a permit from the village.

“A permit is valid for only one year and creates no vested right to continue the use of the coop,” the proposed language states. “Upon expiration or revocation of a permit, the keeping of chickens . . . is no longer permitted.”

Under the proposed ordinance, the village would have the authority to revoke a permit if a resident’s chickens became a “nuisance,” meaning there were “two investigated and verified violations . . . within a six-month period.”

Those violations would include:

• “Complaints about noise, specifically frequent, ongoing or long-continued noise that disturbs the comfort of any persons in the vicinity.”

• “Complaints about odor, specifically foul, noisome, or unpleasant odors that are frequent, ongoing, or long-continued and disturb the comfort of any persons in the vicinity.”

• “Complaints about vermin, specifically the frequent, ongoing or long-continued presence of such vermin as (but not limited to) mice, rats, raccoons and possum.”

• “Failure to comply with the provisions listed under keeping of chickens.”

The village also reserves the right to “revoke a permit issued to a person convicted of animal cruelty in the State of Michigan.”