Urban Chicken Dreams May Come True in Shrewsbury

The urban chicken farming dreams of residents took one step closer to fruition Tuesday.

At a work session held last night, the city’s board of aldermen reviewed a draft ordinance that outlined the limits and restrictions of any .

As presented, the ordinance would allow no more than five chickens on a property and laid out various requirements for where a chicken coop could be placed and how it should be constructed. Residents interested in raising chickens would then provide their plans to the city, which would issue a 45-day construction permit followed by an annual permit.

Several neighboring muncipalities including Kirkwood, Maplewood, Webster Groves and the City of St. Louis have already adopted ordinances allowing the practice, but the issue is 

The proposal received broad support from the aldermen with the initial exception of Alderman Elmer Kauffmann, who asked that the ordinance be modified.

“I can’t live with this unless there are some changes,” he said. “I want some more space between the coops … We have small lots here in Shrewsbury.”

Specifically, Kauffmann asked that the law be amended to state that any structure housing chickens be built at least 15 feet from the side and 10 feet from the rear property lines, as well as 12 feet from the rear of the applicants house and 25 feet from any neighboring residence. The draft ordinance does not allow for coops to be built in the front of a property.

Kauffmann also asked that the maximum number of chickens be scaled down from five to three for smaller lots and the maximum height of a coop be dropped from 6 feet to 4 feet.

Adjustment made

After some discussion, the board, including Kauffmann, agreed to change the language concerning the property line setbacks but decided against his other two proposals regarding coop height and flock sizes.

“The smaller [chicken coops] are, the harder they are to maintain” Alderman Ed Kopff said. Kopff has been communicating closely with resident Mike O’Hare, who initially approached the city about urban chicken farming.

Director of Administration Jonathan Greever said in the national research he conducted, ordinances typically allow for four to eight chickens. Given the smaller size of Shrewsbury’s lots, he opted for a number on the lower end of that scale.

Alderman Mike Travaglini said that reducing it to three chickens “hardly makes it worth the effort,” and Alderman Sam Scherer added that restrictions on the coop building would make “more of a difference than the number of chickens.”

A new version of the ordinance will be presented to the board at their next work session.

So you want to raise some chickens?

Here are some highlights from the proposed ordinance, which is yet to be finalized.

• Chickens must be kept in a structure that is fully enclosed with a roof. They are not permitted to wander “at large” outdoors at any time.
• In this case, the word “chicken” refers specifically to a female domestic member of the genus Gallus (so no roosters) not used for slaughter but maintained for private, non-commercial and non-breeding use.
• The cost of raising chickens includes a one-time application fee of $20 and an annual permit fee of $10.
• Chickens can only be raised on properties that are classified as single-family residential with a minimum lot of 7,500 square feet. The coop itself can have no more than 40 square feet of floor space.
• The ordinance includes several provisions requiring that owners keep it clean, well-maintained and predator-proof.