Endicott residents petition to allow chickens

The Town of Endicott will conduct a public hearing next week to determine if it will allow chickens within town limits. A current ordinance does not allow residents to keep any horse, cattle, sheep, swine, goat, chicken, duck, goose, turkey, peacock, guinea, rabbit or wild animal at large. It also does not allow for residents to keep or maintain any animal that makes continuous noises or annoys or disturbs the peace of others.

Town Clerk/Treasurer Laura Jones said an Endicott resident at the last town council meeting March 14 presented a petition with 115 signatures of people wanting to be able to allow chickens in town. The proposal would not allow for chickens at large, and it would not remove any of the other animals listed from the ban.

“In general it’s for people who want to be able to have their own fresh eggs,” said Jones.

One concern brought up in the discussion was roosters.

“There would be no roosters. That was the big thing,” said Jones. “Nobody wants to hear roosters crowing.”

Jones said the council is considering the matter to allow chickens in town, but with certain conditions. Free range chickens would not be allowed, and the council is also researching the appropriate size of a chicken coop at a residence and how many chickens would be allowed at a residence.

“There would be some rules and guidelines that would have to be followed that our code enforcement officer would be enforcing,” she said.

The 115 signatures collected represent approximately half of the population of Endicott.

A public hearing on the matter is slated at the Endicott school in the multipurpose room next week on Tuesday, March 28. Jones noted the council scheduled the meeting there rather than at town hall in case of a larger turnout.

“We weren’t sure what to expect for a turnout,” she said.

The public meeting will be used as a forum to gather input from the community about the potential of chickens in town, and the input will be used to draft an ordinance which could be presented to the town council as early as its next meeting April 11.

“It will be interesting to see at the public meeting,” said Jones. “We are waiting to see what the feedback is from the community.”