No Hens in Dearborn, No Roosters Up North
We spoke of chickens here once before, so we thought it might be appropriate to share this story in today’s Detroit News about a rooster that is getting the boot from a residential neighborhood near Petoskey after a 16 month fight. For that story, click HERE.
No hens in Dearborn.
As for the chicken case in Dearborn, resident Syeda Akbari, who had been hoping to keep her chickens, has been denied the right to do so at her home in Dearborn. That earlier story is HERE.
Dearborn City Council decided to punt the matter to the city attorney’s office. The legal team simply sent a letter to Akbari saying “City Council would not take any further action on the subject at this time.” Attached to that letter sent to Akbari was a copy of a paper the legal department sent to Council members simply containing the relevant city codes on chickens and a recommendation to draw up a new ordinance if the council wanted to permit Akbari to keep chickens as pets.
The council’s decision to take no further action means there will be no chickens, at least not until a homeowner some day decides to challenge the current ordinance in court.
July 17th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Way to pass the buck council members.
July 17th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
What do u expect from a gutless council?
July 18th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I don’t see the Council non-action as gutless or passing the buck. They decided NOT to pass a law allowing the keeping of chickens inside city limits.
That certainly meets the community standards of Dearborn. If you want to keep chickens, move to a farm.
July 26th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
I agree with Dearborn Citizen. For a change, we are not going to change ordinances for an individual. Dearborn has a strong, healthy history of being a family oriented community; let’s keep it that way! I am tired of us trying to be politically correct and buckling to the demands (and they are demands) from a person or persons who want things their way. Let’s keep our heritage, it’s what has made Dearborn a safe, desireable city for so many years!
July 26th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
This might sound crazy to some of you but there are people out there who do want to keep chickens.
If you look west of us, in Ypsi and Ann Arbor, you’ll find folks over there who have a few chickens. I know “community standards” and culture may be different than what it is in Dearborn though. On the other hand, trends and community standards change or transition over time as people move in, learn something new or feel compelled to try something different (perhaps because of harsher economic times).
Another Dearborn Citizen, I think it would be helpful to have some ordinance on the books so citizens can work within the parameters of the ordinance. I also think it would be wise for citizens to understand, explicitly, who they can contact and how they can go about requesting more information about making a change to an ordinance (I’m not saying they should get their change passed–just that citizens should know what the procedure is).
Backyard chicken is, actually, a hot topic and legal issue right now.