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Politics & Government

Council Approves Urban Chicken Ordinance

Creve Coeur the latest city to take a look at allowing for hens at residences and institutional locations.

The chickens could be coming home to roost in Creve Coeur.

That's because Creve Coeur City Council gave unanimous final approval to an ordinance alteration allowing for chicken hens to be kept by residents for non-breeding and non-commercial purposes.

The measure passed without opposition.

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Creve Coeur City Administrator Mark Perkins said the issue got another look when residents interested in keeping the chickens at their residences contacted the city.

“We decided that it would be appropriate under certain conditions to allow chicken pets,” Perkins said.

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One of the conditions, he said, was keeping in place restrictions on rosters. , Councilwoman Jeanne Rhoades noted that the ordinance would not allow for roosters on a piece of property. Those animals, she said at the time, tended to be noisier.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted in 2010 that the noisy roosters were one of the unintended consequences of allowing urban chickens to flourish throughout the St. Louis area.

The approval of the ordinance change makes Creve Coeur the latest community in the area to become engaged in the urban chicken issue.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

Meanwhile, Perkins provided the council with an update about a promotional video showcasing Creve Coeur.

In late November, Perkins said a producer for – contacted the city with interest in profiling Creve Coeur. The profile would be distributed on cable networks and cable providers around the country.

While Perkins said on Monday that the offer was intriguing, he said the city would look at less expensive and more locally-focused alternatives to showcase Creve Coeur.

“This is something we’ve talked about from time-to-time … that could be beneficial to the city in terms of economic development and getting its name out regionally and perhaps nationally,” Perkins said. “We have done a little bit more research about the opportunities out there along these lines. We do think there are some other good opportunities for producing this program on a local basis here.”

Perkins added that while the “offer we received from that particular show could be attractive, we think there are others that are equally attractive at lower costs.”

“We think this is a good idea and something worth pursuing,” Perkins said. “We see some other examples that have been done for communities and we think there are some other good ones out there as well.”

MSD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OPPOSES RESOLUTION

The executive director of the Metropolitan Sewer District was on hand Monday to urge the council to oppose a resolution from the Missouri Municipal League.

St. Louis Public Radio and other outlets reported the MSD agreement last June to settle a lawsuit involving violations of the Clean Water Act. The agreement includes $4.7 billion worth of improvements over the next 23 years, and it will prompt increases in rates for MSD customers.

The Missouri Municipal League resolution called on municipalities to support postponing the consent decree and work for a different deal.

But MSD Executive Director Jeffrey Theerman told council members “after negotiating with EPA for four years … I believe we arrived at the best settlement we could have reached.”

“We’re going out and talking to all the communities, letting them know both sides of the issue,” Theerman said. “I think there are a great many things we’ve worked together with the municipal league on. And this is by no means a sign of a rift between MSD and the league. But we do want to give our perspective on this particular resolution.”

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