Timothy Smart is looking for city approval to have chickens on his Harding Avenue property.

Most neighbors don’t seem to have a problem with Harding’s chickens – except, that is, for the neighbor who made a complaint with the city Development Department. Smart’s request prompted an application to the city Zoning Board of Appeals, whose members – rightly, in our opinion – referred Smart to the City Council to advocate for a change in city ordinances that clearly state chickens and other livestock aren’t allowed in the city.

So what should the council do with Smart’s request once it is officially made?

That depends.

Not all chickens are as well kept or quiet as the ones Smart was keeping on his property. While neighbors rarely heard or smelled Smart’s chickens, we know many south side residents haven’t enjoyed their morning rooster crows from a rooster kept on someone’s property. It’s particularly annoying for some residents that the rooster crows all day, which often starts outdoor dogs barking.

And therein lies the rub for Smart as city officials consider a change to the city’s livestock ordinances as the city undergoes a new comprehensive plan and zoning code update. One man’s quiet chickens are another man’s noisy rooster.

There was a reason the city made the decision decades ago not to allow livestock in the city. In addition to the noise that can be a nuisance to neighbors, there are sanitary concerns that have to be considered when you have people living in close proximity.

In our opinion, unless noise limits can be adequately enforced – and the crowing rooster is daily background noise on the south side of Jamestown whether you like it or not – and sanitation concerns addressed, then the city shouldn’t change a thing with its ordinance governing chickens and other livestock in the city.