NORTH AURORA – Village trustees in North Aurora are not ready to allow residents to raise backyard chickens.
Trustees on Monday debated the issue. While communities such as Batavia, St. Charles and Naperville allow backyard chickens, Geneva, Elburn and Sugar Grove all ban them.
A North Aurora couple was recently cited by the village for having residential chickens, which is how the issue came up. Village Trustee Laura Curtis was opposed to the idea of allowing backyard chickens. She said if people want farm animals, they should live elsewhere.
“I think we are opening up a can of worms,” she said. “Where does it stop? What if a person said they wanted a cow?”
Curtis said she also was concerned about the impact that backyard chickens would have on neighbors living next to the chickens, along with property values.
Village President Dale Berman said he thought chickens would be “a lot better than barking dogs.” But Berman said he didn’t see overwhelming support for the idea.
In addition, two trustees were absent from the meeting. Staff had recommended that if the village chose to adopt a residential chicken ordinance, that it should be modeled after Batavia’s ordinance.
“It has very good guidelines,” North Aurora Village Administrator Steve Bosco said. “There are a lot of things to regulate it if you allow it.”
Batavia residents have been able to raise chickens in their backyards since May 2011.
The city of Batavia has issued 19 chicken coop permits since 2011, according to Batavia code enforcement officer Rhonda Klecz, who also is North Aurora’s part-time code enforcement officer.
Batavia aldermen voted to allow the chickens with certain restrictions, including a prohibition on roosters. In addition, the maximum number of hens that a household can have is eight.
Chickens also must be kept in an enclosure that is a minimum of 32 square feet, and chicken coops must be at least 30 feet away from any neighboring houses.