If you live on a small lot in Festus and want to raise chickens, now’s your chance.
The Festus City Council voted unanimously Aug. 8 to change its animal ordinance, loosening restrictions on raising chickens.
Matt Unrein, the city’s Public Works director and assistant city administrator, said the main reason the ordinance was changed was to remove the requirement that a Festus resident must have at least a half-acre to obtain a permit to house chickens.
“(The motion) removes the square feet requirement,” he told the council before the vote.
Unrein said the council changed the rule after a Festus resident requested it.
The number of chickens allowed on a given property remains the same, four.
Unrein said that while the ordinance amendment eliminates the property size requirement for keeping chickens, it introduced a few new restrictions regarding chicken ownership.
“Now, it requires a structure to keep chickens – a coop or pen,” he said. “No roosters.”
While the cost to obtain a permit to keep chickens remains at $30, what had been a one-time fee now becomes a permit that needs to be renewed every two years, Unrein said.
The council agreed in 2012 to allow Festus residents to keep chickens and since then the number of permits for chickens has remained relatively low, he said.
“I think we have a dozen permits right now,” Unrein said.
The ordinance revision regarding chickens took effect immediately, he said.