04/15/2011

Ordinance Committee to further ponder rooster regulations

The Town Council's ordinance subcommittee will continue to work for a solution to disruptive roosters.

The full council voted 6-1 to April 11 to have the subcommittee re-examine the issue, on recommendation of the Planning Board.

The Ordinance Committee first considered rooster regulations in response to citizen complaints. In August 2010, the full council asked the Planning Board to examine how roosters might be controlled through land-use regulations such as the zoning ordinance.

The board, however, decided that land-use was not the way to regulate roosters. "A limit on lot size was turned down," said Jim Huebener, a member of the Planning Board. "Another motion to recommend making it part of the noise ordinance did pass," he said.

Town Manager Michael McGovern said the Town gets two or three complaints about roosters a year, and they are resolved between neighbors, he said. "There's absolutely no way to handle (rooster noise) under the existing ordinance," he said."The barking dog ordinance relates to barking dogs only," he said.

Opposing the decision to send rooster regulation to committee was Councilor Caitlin Jordan. She said that while some residents are bothered by roosters, others enjoy the fact that they can keep roosters and chickens on residential properties. "It's a way of life I would think we would want to preserve here," she said.