Chickens could be kept throughout the city of Cape Girardeau under a proposal that will be considered Monday by the City Council.

As drafted by city staff, the measure would allow up to six hens to be kept on any property in the city limits, including residential, commercial and industrial zones.

But city staff envision chickens most likely would be kept on residential properties.

Deputy city manager Molly Hood said, “We don’t think we would see an influx of chickens in industrial areas.”

But city planner Ryan Shrimplin suggested in a memorandum to development services director Alex McElroy hens should be allowed only on residential property.

“Since the request is to allow chickens for residential use, it does not make sense to allow them for commercial or manufacturing/industrial uses,” he wrote.

Shrimplin said city officials may wish to include a provision to allow chickens at schools and for “other educational uses.”

Planning services staff also recommended chickens not be allowed at townhouses or apartments, primarily because of setback requirements.

Under the drafted ordinance, hen houses and chicken pens must be at least 10 feet from the property line and at least 25 feet from any adjacent residence, church, school or business.

Mayor Harry Rediger said he favors passing an ordinance that does not restrict chickens to residential property. To impose such a restriction, the city first would have to obtain approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission, he said.

Rediger said that would take time, as the commission would be required to hold a public hearing on amending the zoning code.

Rediger and Ward 4 Councilman Robbie Guard said it is time to make a decision.

“We don’t have any more time to talk about chickens,” the mayor said.

The council is slated to discuss the issue at its study session Monday night. An ordinance could be brought to the council for a vote as early as Jan. 23.

The issue has engendered considerable discussion at council meetings for more than a month.

Guard, who favors allowing chickens to be kept in the city, said, “The fact is, we keep dragging it out.”

Guard said, “We need to vote on it and make a decision.”

While the issue has garnered a lot of public attention, Guard estimated it affects no more than 20 property owners.

A number of Cape Girardeau residents keep chickens in their yards, city officials acknowledged.

While against city law, the city takes action only when a complaint is made, officials said.

The current issue surfaced late last year.

Resident Andrew Bard submitted a petition to the council Dec. 5 asking the city to allow him and other residents to keep up to six hens on their properties.

Bard circulated the petition after he was cited by the city for keeping chickens in his yard on Bellevue Street. To comply with the city’s ban on chickens, Bard was forced to relocate his three chickens to a friend’s Oak Ridge farm in November.

The issue has surfaced before.

The council voted 4-3 to retain the city’s chicken ban in 2010 after another resident was cited for keeping 10 chickens on his property.

The new measure is patterned after a law in Columbia, Missouri, although Cape Girardeau city staff has incorporated a few changes.

Cape Girardeau’s measure would make it unlawful to raise chickens for slaughter. That issue is not addressed in the Columbia ordinance, Hood said.

As proposed, chicken owners could take their hens elsewhere to be killed, Hood said. Property owners would be barred from killing chickens on their city properties.

“You can’t go in the backyard and cut off their heads,” Hood said.

The measure also would make it unlawful to engage in chicken breeding or “fertilizer production for commercial purposes.”

Under the proposal, chickens would have to be kept in an enclosure or fenced area at all times.

“Neither the 2010 proposal nor the Columbia ordinance contain a clear prohibition on allowing chickens to run at large,” Hood wrote in a memorandum to the council.

Chickens would have to be secured in a hen house or movable chicken coop at night, according to the proposed ordinance.

The 2010 proposal would have required chicken owners to register annually with the city clerk. The latest measure does not have such a provision.

“We just didn’t think it was necessary,” Hood said.

Police Chief Wes Blair wrote in a memorandum to Hood and McElroy he saw “no negative impact to operations or enforcement efforts” if the council adopts the measure.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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