Elmhurst Likely To Say No To Chickens

ELMHURST, IL – An Elmhurst City Council committee is expected Monday to dismiss the idea of allowing residents to have chickens.

More and more towns, including suburbs such as Darien, are letting residents keep chickens.

At 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall, the council's public safety committee is expected to vote on a report that rejects chickens in town. The report says the council discussed the issue four times over the last year.

"After review and discussion, the Committee agreed that permitting residential chicken keeping is not warranted," the report says.

As such, the committee is poised to recommend keeping the local ban.

In July 2022, aldermen Chris Jensen, Emily Bastedo and Jacob Hill requested the City Council consider the chicken issue. The public safety committee is made up of aldermen Hill, Michael Brennan and Guido Nardini.

More than a decade earlier, council committees looked at a proposal to allow residents to own a limited number of chickens. But nothing happened.

Most towns with chickens ban roosters because of their noise.

In 2020, the Darien City Council engaged in a debate after residents complained about a neighbor's ownership of chickens. Aldermen decided to allow chickens, but enacted restrictions.