Wonder Lake village residents can now keep backyard chickens.

Village President Dan Dycus cast his first tie-breaking vote Wednesday night, making the vote 4-3 in favor of a measure allowing up to six hens with a permit from the village.

He wasn’t sure prior to the meeting how he would vote, Dycus said, adding that he leans towards allowing residents to use property as they would like.

“I don’t think municipalities should stand in the way” of property owners, Dycus said.

Trustees Samantha Johnson, Vicki Koeune and Larry Reinhard voted in favor of allowing chickens in the village. Joe Houston, Dennis Palys and John Tollini voted no.

Resident Tina Hager was moved to tears by the outcome.

“I am the one who keeps calling the village” to get a backyard chicken ordinance on the books – or at least debated, Hager said.

The Hickory Road resident admits she had put in a coop with chickens before she knew the village did not allow them. She was cited and had to move them to a farm.

“I will call tomorrow to find out” what she needs to do now to bring her chickens home to roost, Hager said.

During debate on the measure, Trustees added a 50-permit limit and $100 permit fee with a $100 annual renewal with inspection.

A clause proposed by Tollini, allowing individual homeowner associations to determine whether chickens were allowed, was not included in the final ordinance.

“I have heard from multiple HOAs that this creates a nightmare for them” if their association bylaws prohibit backyard chickens.

“Their only way to deal with it would be to take residents to court,” Tollini said.

Wonder Lake dealt with golf carts in a similar manner – only allowing them to be used on village streets where the HOA allowed them.

Koeune said she didn’t want to include that language because some homeowner associations function better than others and it could lead to uneven enforcement.

She pointed to the golf carts as an example - people who live in an association that allows them may not pay attention to borders when crossing into one that does not allow the carts.

About half of the neighborhoods around Wonder Lake are not incorporated into the village, and McHenry County allows coops in neighborhoods. There may be cases where a person a block away is allowed them now, Dycus added. He based the village ordinance – banning roosters and requiring the birds to remain in coops or fenced runs – on the county ordinance.

Wonder Lake’s ordinance does not mention a minimum lot size to get a permit, but the coop must be at least 10 feet from any lot line or other structure, including the house.

“It’s the chicken-in-law suite,” Johnson said.

With a backyard chicken ordinance now on the books, Wonder Lake joins the county, Harvard, Hebron, Prairie Grove, Greenwood and Fox Lake in allowing them in suburban settings.

Dawn Bremer, of McHenry-based The Bremer Team-Keller Williams Success Realty, who was not at the meeting, said buyers are asking her which towns allow backyard chickens as they search for their next home.

An earlier version of this story that ran in the Northwest Herald’s Friday print edition included the incorrect vote tally.