Abby reopens debate on allowing poultry in homes

A question from an Abbotsford resident interested in owning ducks has hatched a new conversation among city officials about whether or not a limited number of poultry should be allowed in residential areas.

Right now, the city’s ordinance allows residents to keep no more than two chickens or other fowl in their homes. The ordinance does not include any specific rules for how the birds must be housed or what happens when there is an issue with noise or odor.

At Monday’s city council meeting, city administrator Dan Grady said an alternative ordinance proposed by attorney Alan Harvey would establish detailed rules regarding domesticated poultry, including standards for coops and pens.

The ordinance would also require residents to obtain a permit to keep poultry at their homes. In order to obtain a permit, they would need to get permission from their neighbors, pay a fee, provide a site plan of their coops and pens, and agree to inspections by the city.

A permit could be revoked as the result of a citizen complaint or if the resident fails to follow any of the ordinance rules.

Under the proposed ordinance, a residential lot of 20,000 square feet or less could have up to five chickens or other poultry. For each additional 3,000 square feet of lot space, one more bird could be added, up to a maximum of eight.

Besides chickens, the ordinance would allow turkeys, pheasants, guinea fowl, geese and peacocks. No roosters over the age of four months would be allowed.

Grady said the resident who asked about keeping ducks at his house would like them for producing eggs, but it’s unclear how many he would like to have.

If poultry is going to be allowed in residential areas, Grady said he thinks the city should set rules that respect neighbors and ensure that the animals are not being mistreated.

“It’s an issue that’s going on in cities all across the country,” he said.

Ald. Dale Rachu, however, said he would rather see the city ban the keeping of residential poultry all together. He worried about the number of issues escalating if people started accumulating more and more birds.

“I don’t think we need to allow any,” he said. “I’m just one vote, but that’s what I think.”

Ald. Dennis Kramer agreed with Rachu, predicting that the council would be forced to waste a lot of time dealing with poultry issues if people are allowed to keep them in their homes.

“It’s better off to have one or two people mad at us that they can’t have their chickens — and I think that would go away fairly quickly,” he said.

Mayor Jim Weix said he agreed with Rachu and Kramer’s concerns, but he didn’t commit to an outright ban on residential poultry. “If we put stricter ordinances into effect, I think we’ll eliminate the problem,” he said.

The council agreed to discuss the issue further at its committee of the whole meeting on May 19, with the possibility of voting on an ordinance change at the next full council meeting on June 7.

Smaller trash carts sought

Mayor Weix told the council that he and Grady plan to meet with representatives of Advanced Disposal and ask the company to split the cost of 160 smaller trash and recycling carts for residents who have requested them.

The cost to the city could be as much $8,000, but Weix said there’s some extra money available in the budget after the retirement of the deputy clerk-treasurer.

After the city switched to 95-gallon rolling carts in 2020, several residents signed up for 65-gallon versions that would be easier to push to the curb.

Last fall, the city tried to negotiate the exchange of 95-gallon carts for 65-gallon versions at no cost, but the company would not accept the city’s proposal.

The situation has been at a stalemate since then, and Advanced Disposal has been acquired by Waste Management.

Weix said he’s hoping to have better luck with the new company owners.

“I want to get it taken care of,” he said. “This has gone on way too long.”

_ Grady told the council about an opportunity to refinance the city’s $2.3 million loan used to pay for the construction of the public safety building in 2010. By locking in a lower interest rate, the city could save about $37,000 over the remaining life of the loan. The city also has about $53,000 in savings that was donated toward the building, and that could be used to pay down the principle and save additional interest, Grady said.

The city’s financial advisors, Ehlers and Associates, will present options for refinancing the loan at a future meeting, Grady said.

_ During public comment, Pine Street resident Paul Writz raised some questions about the Abby Festival soccer tournament planned for June 4-6 at the new soccer field north of the Writz house. The tournament was previously held at the high school soccer field about a block south, and Writz wanted to make sure the same rules would apply.

Mayor Weix said it’s his understanding that the games will only be held during daylight hours and that portable bathrooms would be provided for players and spectators. He also said he talked to the police chief about extra traffic patrols.

The organizers had originally applied for a license to sell beer during the tournament, but that application was withdrawn before Monday’s meeting.

For the record, Writz said he and his wife are opposed to the city issuing beer licenses for any future tournaments at the soccer field.

_ Battalion chief John Austin of the Central Fire and EMS District, told the council about a firefighting training exercise set for May 19 at the fire hall that will involve propane.

“The flames are going to get pretty high over there in the parking lot, in case anybody gets a phone between the hours of 6 and 9:30 p.m.,” he said.

_ The council held off on appointing someone to fill a Ward 3 vacancy left open when Weix was elected mayor. Weix said a couple of people are interested in the seat, but he wanted to give them more time to write application letters, so the council agreed to wait until June to appoint someone.

_ At the recommendation of Grady and Weix, the council voted to promote administrative assistant Erin Clausnitzer to the position of deputy city clerktreasurer. The city plans on sending her to training this summer so she can learn more about overseeing elections and the other duties of a clerk-treasurer.

_ DPW Craig Stuttgen told the council that he’s planning on making changes to the city’s brush pile to deter people from dumping construction materials and other waste there. He said he plans on purchasing some better security cameras and repositioning the brush pile so that the vehicles’ license plates are more visible when they have to back in.

_ The council accepted a low bid of $28,472 from American Asphalt for reconstructing one block of Third Avenue, from Larch to Pine.

_ The council passed two resolutions related to applying for a Community Development Block Grant, which could provide as much as $1 million for refurbishing the city’s water tower, rehabbing 12 city wells and drilling more wells.

One of the resolutions authorizes MSA Professional Services to prepare and submit a grant application by the May 13 deadline. The other commits the city to provide up to $1 million in matching fund for the grant.

Dave Rasmussen of MSA told the council Monday that the CDBG program will provide $2 of funding for every $1 the city spends. The total high-end cost estimate for all of the water project work is $2 million.

The city is also planning to apply for a Safe Water Drinking Loan from the Wisconsin DNR in order to help provide the matching funds, but on the advice of MSA, the council decided to hold off on applying until next year.

Abbotsford can expect to hear whether it qualified for a CDBG by the end of July or early August. If a grant is awarded, the water tower project would be bid out this fall for completion in 2022, which is also when work would begin on rehabbing and drilling wells.

_ MSA engineer Dan Borchardt said Melvin Companies had resumed its work on the Safe Routes to School project started last year. Next week, a subcontractor plans on installing a new block of sidewalk on the west side of North Fourth Avenue, from Spruce to Butternut. The sidewalk on the opposite side of that street is currently being removed.

Rapid flashing beacons will also be installed at the intersections of Cedar and Fourth and Cedar and STH 13, to allow for safer crossings for kids walking to and from school.