​Chickens Allowed In Fargo City Limits

FARGO - Fargo City Commissioners passed the Chicken Ordinance Monday allowing residents to raise chickens within city limits. The proposal has been under consideration for years, and was pecked at by critics.

The Chicken Ordinance, or backyard chicken keeping, is part of a national trend for families to raise their own locally grown food and to teach children that not all chicken are McNuggets, according to Cass County Public Health nutritionist Kim Lipetzky.

“There’s been a lot of confusion, a lot of conflict. A lot of confusion with city staff and the public,” Lipetzky said. The new ordinance will clear up any previous confusion, she said.

Some of the stipulations of the Chicken Ordinance include: permits must be obtained for no more than $20, families can raise no more than four chickens, chicken coops cannot be built in front yards and chickens must be confined to the coop.

“They can’t be allowed to run at large,” City Administrator Eric Johnson said.

Additionally, all chicken feed must be kept in predator-proof containers, breeding and slaughtering of chickens are not allowed within city limits. If problems arise, permits will be suspended.

“As long as you have a permit, they will now be allowed in residentially-zoned property,” Johnson said. “This is a bit of an experiment on how chicken keeping will be perceived in the city.”

Numbers of how many people in Fargo were currently raising chickens, or how many will plan to order chickens online to raise at home were not known, Johnson said.

In the past, some Fargoans have raised chickens without permits. Trisha Campbell was forced to get rid of her chickens, she said during a city commission meeting.

“I had to get rid of them mostly from the confusion,” Campbell said. “The only concern I have it the height of the chicken coop.” She worries North Dakota’s cold winters will demand better ventilated, draft proof chicken coops.

“All in all, I think you’ve done a wonderful job,” Campbell said.

Fargo resident Steve Strege addressed the mayor and commissioners Monday saying he and many others he knew, remain opposed to raising chickens in city limits. “People who buy homes in Fargo have a reasonable expectation of not having farm animals in their neighborhoods,” Strege said. “If they wanted to live around farm animals they would live in a rural area.”

Strege stressed that the new ordinance ignores former requirements of keeping domestic fowls no closer than 75 feet from any dwelling. He could face multiple chicken-raising neighbors all approximately three feet of his own yard, he said, if his neighbors decided to raise chickens.

He asked the city to consider an amendment to force chicken owners to first receive permission from neighbors before obtaining permits.

“Chickens smell bad,” Strege said. “Chicken manure smells bad, and chickens spreads disease. Home values will follow chickens. Many potential home buyers will walk away when they see chickens next door. Those that want to raise farm animals should do so in the country, not in the city.

“If the commission can’t or won't close existing chicken sites, then at least require the owners to obtain written approval from neighbors to continue raising chickens.”

City Commissioner John Strand, who serves on the Cass-Clay Food Initiative, said Strege’s objections have challenged him to study the issue further, but he voted in favor of the Chicken Ordinance.

“We’re going to see how this works, this cleaning up the ordinance,” Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney said. “It will allow the city to inspect and check things out and make sure they follow the rules. If we don’t like it, we can get rid of it.”