Column: No chickens for Iowa City

Looks like there won't be any chickens in my backyard this spring, or in the yards of any other law-abiding Iowa City residents. That's too bad.

Iowa City councilors decided Monday to take the question of city chickens off their list of pending agenda items after it became clear a majority were less than thrilled about the idea of allowing chickens in town.

Last fall, most council members were open to at least discussing ordinance changes that would allow folks to keep a few birds for eggs and for fun.

That happened after Iowa City's Friends of Urban Chickens presented the council with more than 650 signatures and city staff started to look into the issue.

Their opinions were split - Housing and Inspection Services didn't like the idea, Animal Services was more favorable - and so councilors put the urban chicken issue on the back burner, rightly choosing to first focus on more pressing business. Even I'll admit that chickens aren't quite as important as flood recovery or the city budget.

But reports this week are that newly elected councilors Terry Dickens and Susan Mims are cool to the chicken idea, killing that majority and taking the birds off the table for the foreseeable future.

I hope they learn more about the idea before they say “no” for good.

It's hip, not hick, to want to know where your food comes from. Allowing folks to keep chickens for eggs and for fun would have been a small, logical step toward local, sustainable eating.

By all accounts, chickens are no more nuisance than other domesticated pets, when properly cared for. The issue is sure to surface again - enough Iowa Citians want the birds to convince me of that.

Maybe if Cedar Rapids goes first, it will help pro-chicken folks overcome opponents' concerns.

Cedar Rapids' based Citizens for Legalization of Urban Chickens, or CLUC, has asked the council there to look at allowing the chickens. We'll see if those leaders take a more favorable view.

So far, I've been surprised how strongly some have objected to calling the birds anything but livestock, suitable only for agricultural land. Chickens stink, they say, they might get loose. Then - there goes the neighborhood.

But plenty of towns, from Sioux City to Des Moines to Chicago, do just fine with chickens roosting within the city limits.

That the list of chicken-friendly cities continues to grow says to me that these concerns are easily addressed - if the council only will put chickens back on the table.

Jennifer Hemmingsen's column appears on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Contact the writer at (319) 339-3154 or jennifer.hemmingsen@gazcomm.com