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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – To allow for proper advertising, Bethlehem City Council decided to postpone until its next meeting a final vote on an amended ordinance governing backyard chickens.

The ordinance was amended to cap the number of permits to 40, allowing a one-year pilot period to determine how keeping urban chickens affects the administration, the city's animal control officer, and residents, said Councilmember Paige Van Wirt, who sponsored the ordinance with Councilmember Hillary Kwiatek.

The ordinance allows for six chickens and requires an applicant submit a completed application provided by the city's animal control officer and pay the fees.

The $25 application requires a drawn-to-scale site plan showing locations and the footprint of the proposed chicken coop and runs, as well as existing structures on the property and the location of adjacent homes or properties. Chicken and eggs cannot be raised for commercial purposes under the ordinance.

Once approved by the city, an applicant will receive a permit lasting three years, and it must be renewed.

Mayor J. William Reynolds chided council for making comments to the press about how close the city was at allowing urban chickens, saying that an understaffed city hall was flooded with calls about the ordinance and that the whole matter didn't reach the urgency of other, more pressing issues facing the city.

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The LERTA allows municipalities to place conditions on a developer and Bethlehem requires developers designate units as affordable housing.

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