Chickens a la Oneonta? Common Council

Considers Putting Recipe On Books

By LIBBY CUDMORE • HOMETOWN ONEONTA

Edition of Friday, Oct. 3, 2014

It’s not a matter of which came first – the chickens or the ordinance. It’s about which one will go on the chopping block.

“There’s a lot of concern about where our food comes from,” said City Council member Bob Brzozowski. “People want to know that their chickens are cared for, what they’re fed and the quality of their lives. It’s the obvious solution.”

Under the proposed amendment to municipal code Section 1, Chapter 68:

• Up to 10 chickens would be allowed within city limits.

• Roosters, the outdoor slaughtering of chickens and the sale of the eggs are prohibited.

• Chickens must be kept in an appropriate-sized pen 25 feet from another dwelling, not in a front yard or allowed to free-range unsupervised.

The movement was started by Howard Lichtman, who wanted to add chickens to his River Street garden. “We have fruit trees. We grow our own vegetables. We thought it would be nice to have our own eggs from our own flock of hens.”

The laws preventing fowl from being raised in city limits have been on the books since at least 1975, according to Robert Chiappisi, code enforcement officer. “It’s hard to imagine it wasn’t allowed at some point in the city’s history.”

Lichtman and Chiappisi worked together to draft the ordinance. “It’s an extension of the urban farming movement,” said Lichtman. “What you can get out of your own backyard is so much healthier than what you can buy at the store, and it cuts down on carbon emissions and energy use.”

However, City Council member Dave Rissberger said he will vote against the proposed ordinance. “There’s nothing in this amendment that says someone can’t buy 20 chickens and throw them in the back yard without proper shelter,” he said at his ward meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 24. “This ordinance doesn’t have any teeth for code enforcement.”

Citizens who have spoken up at Common Council meetings are worried that chickens will bring foxes into Center City, that chickens will run loose like feral cats and get hit by cars, or that the noise from the chickens will disturb the peace.

“My neighbors hardly know I have chickens,” said Al Dicka, owner of Daddy Al’s deli in the West End, just over the city line in the Town of Oneonta.

He raises 30 chickens in a coop on his West Oneonta property and sells the fresh eggs at his store. “At night, they don’t make a sound.”

And although they do occasionally make a break for it, his neighbors don’t really mind. “They eat the grubs in their gardens,” said Dicka. “And they don’t make hardly any noise.”

“It’s such a benign amount of noise,” said Brzozowski. “I don’t believe it will have a negative impact on the quality of life.”

“It’s good for me,” said Dicka. “Instead of sitting on my couch watching TV, I get up, go out and take care of them.”

The ordinance will be voted on at the regular meeting of Common Council, at 7 p.m. next Tuesday, Oct. 7.

“They allow chickens in all five boroughs of New York City,” said Brzozwski. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to raise them here as well.”