Here’s something backyard poultry-keepers can crow about. The community has spoken and Riverhead officials heard them. Town officials have decided to drop the rooster ban idea. The town also will not pursue regulations on backyard coops, henhouses and pens.
“There was overwhelming support from the community for the roosters,” Council Member Tim Hubbard said today.
Town officials have heard from a lot of people speaking out against the rooster ban and backyard poultry regulations discussed last week by the Town Board — and they heard a lot of opposition to what was discussed, Hubbard said.
MORE COVERAGE: Proposed rooster ban and regulations on keeping fowl on residential property has local backyard chicken keepers squawking
“It just seems it just overwhelming support for the roosters, that we’re a rural community. And I get that, you know, that’s why we brought it up to work session, so we could talk about it,” Hubbard said.
“We had complaints coming in, of people saying that they had roosters 10 feet outside their bedroom window because they live on a small lot and the house next to them was right on top of them. So we looked around, we looked at other towns to see what they had in their codes and we decided to put something together and talk about it and discuss it,” Hubbard said.
MORE COVERAGE: Riverhead considers banning roosters and regulating chicken coops on residential properties
“I believe we’re going to just drop the topic and move on to something else,” he said.
“A lot of people love fresh chicken eggs. And it’s just another source for people to get them, so it’s not something big brother and government should get involved in,” Hubbard said.
He said he spoke to council members Rothwell and Beyrodt and they were in favor of backing off the proposal. Council Member Beyrodt and Supervisor Aguiar were “leery about it” to begin with, he said, so he does not think they will have a problem with the change of heart.
Reporting by Alek Lewis
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