MANSFIELD — The Great Mansfield Chicken Debate continued this week with four supporters speaking at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Council heard from four supporters of the backyard chickens ordinance, including Matthew Stanfield, chairman of Citizens for Mansfield Backyard Chickens. The issue had previously been brought before council on Feb 16, which led to some debate and also commentary by Richland Source columnist, Steve Russell.
He noted there a number of vacant lots in the city that are too small to have buildings constructed on them with the way the zoning laws are written.
“With that being said, we’ve got all this land that can’t be used for really anything productive other than something like gardening or keeping chickens,” Stanfield said.
He believes using vacant lots to raise chickens would be a good use of the land.
“Especially when you’re talking about it being adjoined to the neighbor’s property,” he said.
Mansfield resident Josh Werner also voiced his support of the backyard chickens ordinance.
He raised chickens when he lived in Ashland. He said that chickens aren’t loud and refuted the claim that chicken-keeping lowers homeowners’ property values.
“Property values are tied to the economy not to your neighbors having chickens,” he said.
Council also approved (8-0) the final annual appropriations for fiscal year 2016. See the breakdown of the budget here (Bill 16-040).
