10/07/2014

Public hearing on rooster restrictions set for Nov. 6

The Town Council will hold a public hearing on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on a proposal to ban roosters from lots smaller than 40,000 square feet, slightly less than one acre.

The proposal was prompted by a request from Joe Gajda, a resident of Farm Hill Road, who in August complained about a rooster living next door to his Elizabeth Park neighborhood home.

The council's ordinance committee reviewed the request Sept. 19, 2014 and recommended an amendment to the miscellaneous offenses ordinance that would prohibit roosters on lots smaller than 40,000 square feet.

The vote to hold the hearing was unanimous, but Councilor Caitlin Jordan, who has historically opposed proposed restrictions on keeping roosters, said at the Oct. 6, 2014 council meeting that she would prefer to see Cape Elizabeth ordinances treat crowing roosters they same way they do barking dogs. "To me this is a noise issue," Jordan said.

Police respond to barking-dog complaints by trying to mediate between complainants and dog owners, Chief Neil Williams said at Oct. 6 the meeting. But, he added that barking dogs can be controlled. "My understanding is that roosters cock-a-doodle-do in the morning and from what I've read could be through the day several times and there is nothing really to stop them," Williams said. Officers also try to mediate rooster complaints, which is why he's seen only two or three in his 35 years with Cape Elizabeth police, but it would be cleaner to simply ban roosters from small lots, Williams said.

Councilors received a map of 2,800 properties that may be affected by a rooster ban, which represents 11 percent of the land in town, said Councilor Kathy Ray, chair of the ordinance subcommittee.

Jordan asked if owners of small lots who already have roosters might be grandfathered. She said she believed two or three complaints should not cause roosters to be banned everywhere, and asked for public input before the Nov. 6 hearing.

Jamie Wagner, a councilor who serves on the ordinance subcommittee, also asked for input from the public: For example, evidence that measures such as rooster collars are effective. "I would encourage anybody that wants to continue to keep roosters, or ever have roosters, anything that you want to present to the council prior to the public hearing I would encourage," Wagner said.