A push to convince Brookfield officials to allow homeowners to keep hens in their backyards gained some steam Monday night, as three village trustees voiced support and President Michael Garvey called for more discussion of the subject on Sept. 12.
“In placing restrictions as other municipalities have done, I see that Brookfield could be progressive on this issue,” said Trustee Ryan Evans, one of the three trustees who appeared to support the concept of backyard hens. “I don’t feel that staff will be overburdened in the regulation process. I think perhaps in crafting an ordinance, that will take time, especially for our community, [which] is very different from a Downers Grove, a Westmont or even the city of Chicago. … I would be interested in exploring this option.”
The other trustees showing support were Cathy Colgrass Edwards and Brian Oberhauser. Trustee Michael Towner said he was against allowing backyard chickens, while C.P. Hall, Kit Ketchmark and Garvey did not express opinions on the subject.
About 50 people turned out for the board’s committee of the whole meeting on Aug. 8. Many brought children and some, like Brookfield resident Melissa Boughner, made signs bearing slogans like “We chickens in Brookfield.”
Backyard chickens drew overwhelming support from the audience, with 22 of 25 who addressed the board supporting the measure. All three who came out against backyard hens lived near Alana Waters-Piper, the woman behind the local movement to allow hens.
Waters-Piper kept three chickens in her backyard for about a year until all three turned up dead in late July of unknown causes. Their deaths followed just days after a Landmark article featuring Waters-Piper’s hobby. In between, Waters-Piper reported that someone had apparently entered her garage, while another person distributed fliers giving her address.
“I don’t know how you’ll be able to enforce this,” said Ramona Towner, the wife of Trustee Michael Towner and the author of the fliers passed around to Waters-Piper’s neighbors following the Landmark article. “You live in the city. You go to Chicago, it’s a certain lifestyle. You go in the suburbs, it’s a certain lifestyle. If you want to have livestock and whatever that entails, then you go to west DuPage, Kane, Will, Grundy counties. Those are places in my mind that those things exist.”
Waters-Piper’s next-door neighbor, Charlie Manlapaz, who is not living at the house while he tries to sell it, said he’s glad he hasn’t been around much this summer.
“I love animals, but I also love being a good neighbor,” said Manlapaz. “I’ll vouch that the smell has been pretty bad. … It breaks my heart we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy our backyard because of that smell.”
But others painted a different picture of backyard chickens in the village. Scott Sanders and his wife, Allison Muscolino, have been raising chickens in their Brookfield backyard since March.
Sanders distributed photos of his well-tended set up, which includes a 6-by-3-foot coop that looks like a red barn adjacent to the couple’s garden. He argued that the village already has other nuisance laws on the books that could be used to ensure sanitary conditions and limit noise.
“People [who keep chickens] are committed to a more sustainable way of life,” said Muscolino. “People who do commit to this really see this as a lifestyle choice.”
The couple’s neighbor, Tom Roman, had no problem with the chickens.
“I have to admit, I had my concerns,” said Roman of the day the chickens showed up. “Were they going to smell? Were they going to be loud? … I never smell them. I occasionally hear them but no more than I hear any of the other birds that are in the trees in my backyard.”
The key, several speakers and trustees pointed out, was about people being good neighbors and making sure their pets aren’t a neighborhood nuisance.
“It does come down to a certain amount of responsibility,” said Trustee Cathy Colgrass Edwards. “I don’t think everyone would necessarily opt for chickens if it was made legal, but at the same time anyone who would, would at the same time have to work within certain constraints. … I do think everybody should think about it with an open mind.”