Council votes down ordinance 5-0
Standing-room-only crowd crows loudly in opposition
Updated 4/15/2024 – Expands coverage and quotes from meeting.
MANDEVILLE — A chicken ordinance offered by a lame-duck councilman goes down in flames as an overflow audience in Council Chambers crowed loudly in opposition tonight (April 11th).
Councilman at Large Rick Danielson proposed a ban on roosters and limiting the number of chickens any single-family dwelling can keep to just six, along with other changes to city code relating to fowl and rabbits.
“Basically what this ordinance is proposing is, a limit on chickens and basically a ban on roosters. … Some people feel as if this started because of one person’s complaint or one person’s issue. It is not true. Let me make that very, very clear,” Danielson said.
He continued, “As a council, we can’t propose laws without a public discussion. So that proposal starts with an ordinance. So the ordinance was written as an effort to discuss this issue. And if it is an issue that needs to be addressed and discussed, I hope that we can then find a reasonable solution to the issue.”
Ordinance 24-06 would have also banned coops and cages from front yards as well as make it illegal to allow chickens to roam freely.
After over an hour of impassioned public comments — the overwhelming majority in opposition — and discussion among City Council members, Danielson made a motion to table the ordinance, saying he would like to bring it back, pending a review of the existing nuisance law.
“I never necessarily felt that this ordinance was the end-all, be-all perfect solution to anything. But like I talked about at the beginning, I felt it was worth having the discussion,” he said.
But District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush indicated that the council shouldn’t table Ordinance 24-06: “My thought is, the reasons I’m against it are probably not going to change.”
Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman added, “The banning of roosters and limiting of chickens is the wrong approach. I think it should be tackled from the nuisance (law) side.”
The motion to table failed 5-0, including Danielson voting against.
The council then opted to kill the ordinance 5-0, also including Danielson as a no vote.
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Mandeville Daily 