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BRAZORIA — The City Council has continued to hunt and peck its way toward a change in the city’s ordinances to allow residents to legally keep chickens with a more common-sense approach to the requirements.

Due to a lack of distinction between livestock and fowl, the city requires just as much space to keep a single chicken as a cow. After a push to begin better enforcing the ordinances on the city’s books, the problem came to light and a committee was formed to try to iron out the problems.

“We got the language cleaned up,” Councilman Bill Lott said.

A committee consisting of Lott, law enforcement and residents made recommendations, which came before the council Tuesday. The city took some last-minute public comments and is having a final version written up for voting.

Chicken owner Timothy Jordan, whose run-ins with city officials helped inspire the drive to update the city’s laws, provided what he felt were points for a permitting system.

“It can be changed at any time under that permit if it needs to be revisited, without going through the variance, the ordinance — and then a small, minor perk is that you can charge for the permit and then the renewal every year,” Jordan said.

The permitting idea, versus handling change requests through variances, was a sticking point with animal control officer Jacob Bick, who said he preferred those matters go directly through council.

The structure that emerged through discussion pointed toward a system in which initial variance requests would go through animal control with Bick making judgment calls. Disputes which cannot be resolved through the permitting process would then be taken before council.

“I enjoy having an audience, but I feel like that should be handled at the city level,” Mayor Phillip Ray said.

Among the committee’s recommendations were a mandatory 25-foot distance from coops and runs to dwellings on neighbors’ properties, along with a 10-foot required distance from any property line, a limitation of coops and runs to side and back yards and a limit of 10 chickens on a city lot before a permit was needed.

The last point was the first to be challenged, with the committee admitting it to be somewhat arbitrary. The council indicated they were more likely to adopt a 15-bird limit and variances could take care of any further issues.

“I don’t think anybody up here’s against chickens,” Councilman Gary Kersh said. “I think if your neighbor doesn’t complain, then I don’t think he’s ever going to want to come over and count them,” he said, motioning to Bick.

“That’s exactly right,” Bick said.

Other suggestions include runs being fully enclosed and food being kept covered and fastened. Problems with roosters making excess racket would be covered under existing noise ordinances.

Bick will craft a final version of the ordinance for the next council meeting. The proposed ordinance will be posted to social media beforehand.

“We’re not after y’all’s chickens. There were wording problems. We didn’t choose this, it chose us,” Ray said.

In other business, the council adopted a new category to permit fees for new residential construction — accessory buildings. Permits for those buildings, referred to as garages, sheds, barns and other similar structures, will cost 15 cents per square foot. This is a reduction from the current 30 cents per square foot.

“This would be for anything over 200 square feet on a residential lot or anything over 120 square feet on a commercial lot,” Building and Code Enforcement Official Jason Ellison said.

The cost is for new construction. The installation of a smaller, prebuilt accessory building is a flat rate of $50.

Also, council approved $25,000 in matching funds to continue securing a FEMA mitigation grant for $100,000, noting the city was required to match 25 percent of the grant rather than 10 percent as previously thought.

Kent Holle is a reporter for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0154.

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