Peotone Village Board Approves Backyard Chickens

By Andrea Arens

A handful of chicks lobbied for change, and they won.

It was no easy task either. Jolane Walenga, Katherine Mahn, and Amanda Babiarz made it a point to attend every meeting for the past five months, sharing information and reminding the board they weren’t going anywhere.

Walenga said, “I wanted chickens last fall. I started looking up what I needed to build a coop and found them illegal in the village. While investigating, I also found the 2018 petition on Change.org. I saw all the comments on the community page about chickens in the village and further investigated the comments to find Amanda Babiarz and asked her if she would lobby with me. She immediately agreed, and I went to the trailer meeting because of the building code. I brought up coop building at the trailer meeting.

“The first meeting I went to was in January, afterwards I made the Peotone laying hens page. Katie was really active and supportive, so we invited her to help us. Together, we attended all meetings since, then changing the page to CLUCK – citizens lobbying urban Chicken keeping – sharing the catchy name after listening to a podcast report on a village that successfully lobbied for chickens in Florida. We made shirts and went in our matching best dedicated to the cause. We’ve refuted facts and a lot of social media scrutiny but remained focused on the goal, to change policy.”

The 40-year-old ordinance prohibiting the keeping of backyard hens or personal poultry was replaced with a brand new ordinance allowing it.

The people who signed in to speak were essentially split; some were for and some were against.

Keeping chickens in village limits isn’t that uncommon. Nearby Monee and other municipalities like Homewood, Des Plaines, and Elgin, all have ordinances allowing residents to keep chickens as pets within city limits.

Peotone’s ordinance reads much like other municipalities. Residents wanting to keep hens will need some deep pockets. The ordinance requires a $250 poultry license, a six-foot privacy fence around the property, a building permit and fee for the coop, underground electric to the coop, along with permit to have the electric installed, and annual renewal fee of $25. Properties also are subject to inspections.

The coop is a permanent, upgraded structure and would be assessed, therefore possibly affecting property taxes, as well.

Trustee Jackie Richards lobbied for an increased poultry license fee from $100 to $250. Trustee Todd Sandberg stated he would need underground electric to the coop, along with permit and fee, for approval. Trustee Julie Sluis took former Trustee Pat Bowden’s suggestion and asked that the sundown clause be added, making the ordinance up for review in three years, at which time if it isn’t working, it can be revoked.

Trustee Gary Hudson spoke against the chickens. He said, “I want you to dig deep into your hearts on this. Our community is asking you to enforce our current ordinance. This is not the type of change we need. This is not the type of change many in our community are in favor of. I say we vote no and put an end to this once and for all.”

With Trustee Marevka absent, Trustees Richards, Sandberg, Strba, and Sluis voted in favor. Hudson voted no. The ordinance will not take effect until July 2023.