PEORIA, Ill. – People in Peoria who want to raise chickens in their backyards will have to wait a little longer to get permission from the city.
The city council Tuesday night held off on deciding to move forward with drafting an ordinance to allow backyard chickens.
The Peoria County Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this month approved the request from Peoria resident Kimberly Giraldo, but noted that input should be taken into consideration from the Humane Society and Peoria County Animal Protection Services.
One of the concerns raised by the county was amending an intergovernmental agreement to factor in raised costs for service calls relating to chickens. Cost increases were also a concern from 1st District Councilwoman Denise Jackson at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“I cannot imagine in good conscience how we would even consider doing something like this, given the magnitude of code enforcement and public safety issues that we’re already dealing with,” Jackson said. “That’s my question and I don’t know how we would pay for something like this.”
Other concerns raised by council members included whether or not PCAPS would need to find or build additional space for chickens, public health with bird flu concerns, and sanitation with raising chickens.
4th District Councilman Andre Allen proposed looking into a pilot program, to see if backyard chickens would be something the city would want to have.
“I think that allows us to evaluate, demonstrate a proof of concept, to see if this is worth investing more,” Allen said. “Whether that is some type of lottery system where we would award so many permits, maybe per district, to truly evaluate if this is something that we want to play in Peoria, or not.”
Giraldo spoke at the meeting about the proposal, suggesting rules similar to ones in place in Champaign. Those rules include only allowing hens, only allowing five hens at most, and having storage for food and coops to keep the chickens in.
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