March 28, 2024
Local News | Bureau County Republican


Local News

Princeton is cracking down on chickens and other fowl within city limits

PRINCETON — If you’re raising chickens inside the city limits of Princeton, you might want to start making arrangements to remove them from your property.

Because of the uptick in complaints about chickens, ducks, geese and roosters, the city council is going to ask the Princeton Plan Commission to come up with a city code that makes it more definitive these birds are not allowed within city limits.

City clerk Pete Nelson has fielded many calls over the years about this issue, however this year, the problem has gotten too big for him to deal with on his own. The calls are coming in more frequently, and he estimates anywhere between 15-20 properties around the city have chickens.

“And it’s growing,” he said, plus he’s learning some residents keep their chickens so discreet in the backyard, it’s unknown they’re even there.

But the noise, smell and some residents letting the birds roam the neighborhood have gotten to a point where they must go.

Nelson said the city’s land use code doesn’t say “no” or “yes” to chickens, however under the city’s public health code, it makes reference that chicken and geese must be penned up.

“It’s ambiguous to the public as to what’s really expected,” he said, adding the city needs to make it more definitive and clearer for the public to understand what’s allowed and not allowed.

City council member Jerry Neumann is 100% against fowl inside the city limits.

“I think we should be strongly against it. If you want to have an animal in your house in the city, it should be a dog or a cat,” he said.

City council member Hector Gomez, who is also administrator of the Bureau, Putnam, Marshall County Health Departments, said there have been some cases of Campylobactor over the years, which is linked to fowl droppings.

Geraldine Woodlief, a Princeton resident who spoke publicly about the issue during Monday's city council meeting, said chickens are linked to rats because of the food left out for the chickens.

City council member Ray Mabry said he visited two residents who had chickens in their yards over the weekend. He said they were discreet, clean and properly taken care of; and after talking with neighbors, none expressed concerns.

However, he did note that there is a home on Pleasant Street where the whole front yard is lined with chicken wire and the fowl are left to roam.

“It’s unfortunate we’ve got just a few people who’ve cause the grief in this,” he said.

Mabry wished the city could come to some sort of compromise where it would allow a certain number of chickens that had to be in the backyard.

Nelson said he’s surveyed around 25 communities over the years about their stance on chickens. He said it’s about 60/40 against chickens among the communities he’s talked to.

“The city of Washington passed an ordinance in June to permit chickens and by August or September they passed about ordinance to ban them,” he said.

Princeton Plan Commission will be asked to work on a code that clearly states chickens, geese, roosters and ducks are not allowed in city limits. It will then have to go before the city council for approval before it goes into effect.