Chickens may soon be allowed in Libby
By JOHN BLODGETT
The Western News
Libby residents can rest assured — adult roosters are prohibited in a draft ordinance to allow the keeping of chickens within city limits.
The so-called “Urban Chicken” ordinance has been making its way through the City Council resolution and ordinance committee and might be ready for presentation to the full council in early August.
At the committee’s May 29 meeting, councilors Peggy Williams and Kristin Smith reviewed the draft ordinance with Lincoln County Health Department Director Kathi Hooper, who has been providing input and feedback.
A handful of details remain to be worked out, including a limit on the number of hens that can be kept on any property. The draft ordinance presented on May 29 stated no more than six, but after some discussion it was agreed that a range of four to six — dependent upon a property’s square footage and according to a to-be-determined equation — might be more appropriate.
As for roosters, the draft ordinance states that none over the age of three months will be allowed.
Requirements for shelter, sanitation and access to food and water, among other items, are also outlined.
Hooper and Williams both said they’d heard numerous people express enthusiasm for the pending ordinance. Williams said she’d heard only one negative comment.
The ordinance was inspired by Libby resident Denise Pepmiller, who brought up the topic during public comment at the April 2 City Council meeting and later provided the committee with existing chicken ordinances from Missoula, Troy and her hometown of Springfield, Missouri.
Pepmiller’s own inspiration includes her three-year-old daughter, Delphia, who she says is an “animal whisperer” and whom she’d like to teach about the cycle of life by raising chickens.
If the ordinance passes, Pepmiller said she’d like to get “two tiny little bantams” for her small property.
“It’s an approachable process,” she said of the effort to effect change in her community. “You just have to know the process.”