Town Council Chickens Out

The year-long “urban chicken” debate is over. (Photo: Stefanie Hadden)

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

October 20, 2014

Cape Charles Town Council spent $25,000 on a chicken study and laid an egg. Council member Chris Bannon provided that cost estimate October 17 at Council’s monthly meeting. Although Bannon did not break down the cost, it presumably is a measure of how many hours were spent on the chicken question by Town Planner Rob Testerman over the past year, as well as the cost for legal counsel to review a proposed town ordinance to allow backyard hens under a highly regulated set of conditions.

Although Testerman clearly wanted to see Cape Charles get on board with the nationwide urban chicken movement, Town Council was not convinced, even though the majority of Historic District residents participating in Testerman’s survey approved of the concept.

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Testerman had earlier presented survey results showing a majority of respondents opposed to backyard chickens. But that survey included Bay Creek residents, who would not be affected since Bay Creek makes its own rules. Council member Sambo Brown wanted to know what residents in the affected Historic District thought, and when the Bay Creek input was removed the results were reversed.

But that didn’t stop Bay Creek Council members Steve Bennett and Joan Natali from voting on the question. Bennett earlier had expressed reticence over voting, noting that as a Bay Creek resident he would not be affected personally. But he overcame that hesitation, voting with Natali against the chickens.

Among Historic District Council members the vote was tied: Tom Godwin and Sambo Brown favored backyard chickens, while Frank Wendell and Chris Bannon did not. If the Bay Creek representatives had recused themselves, Mayor George Proto would have been required to break the tie vote — a decision he was clearly glad not to have to make.

Godwin’s vote against the majority was historic: During his past two years in office he has always voted with the majority, even when he personally felt otherwise, “in the interest of unanimity,” as he once put it. He explained at length why he broke this time from the majority:

“For some reason I just can’t vote against having chickens. I know this comes as a surprise. My whole family is against me. But I have a feeling, every time you make a law, we seem to take a little bit of freedom from somebody. . . . You can have chickens and you can have a clean chicken coop. We’ve got all kinds of regulations. If a person wants to have a few chickens in his back yard I don’t see a problem with it. I always felt that I could take care of my family. I grew up when there was no social services. If I have to look after my family, that’s part of my ability to do that. It’s called survival. . . . For that one percent that want to keep chickens, I’ll vote for them,” Godwin said.

 

 

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4 Responses to “Town Council Chickens Out”

  1. Deborah Bender on October 21st, 2014 9:30 am

    Let’s see….I attended the joint planning commission & council public forum and clearly stated the amount of money the town had spent on the chicken study as being $25,000.00. A few days later Chris Bannon comes up with the same amount of money spent.

    Thank goodness I provided that eye opening amount of money and Councilman Bannon was paying attention.

  2. Pam Barefoot on October 22nd, 2014 7:59 am

    I was disappointed to see the chicken coop idea shot down. My cousin has an amazing one in her back yard in Raleigh NC, where an annual tour of chicken coops brings in money for a worthy cause. Thousands of people come to Raleigh’s famed city coops each year. Here’s a link to the Tour D’Coop in Raleigh with lots of photos. http://tourdcoop.com/

  3. Wayne Creed on October 23rd, 2014 9:22 am

    Whether or not you thought this was a grand priority, Mr. Testerman should be applauded for some very fine work. Thanks to his research, we now know quite a bit about the urban chicken business. To all you chicken and egg enthusiasts, do not take this as the final word. The only thing finite here is the term of a Town Council member. Things can always change. In Orwell’s Animal Farm they reminded us, “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough…Yet he is lord of all the animals?”

  4. Rob Testerman on October 23rd, 2014 11:06 am

    For the sake of accuracy, I would like to correct a bit of the above article. During the monthly staff reports Councilman Bannon referred to a comment that was made by Ms. Bender at the public hearing, where she stated that the town had paid me $25,000 to work on this chicken study and ordinance. Councilman Bannon asked if I had any idea where that number may have come from. Bannon provided no cost estimate. My response was that no, I did not know where the number came from, but if you look at my salary at Cape Charles, $25,000 would mean that I devoted all of my time, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, working exclusively on the chicken ordinance and nothing else, for approximately 8 months. While I don’t have an estimate of how many hours were devoted to this, I can say with 100% certainty that it was nowhere close to even half of the amount of time implied by the $25,000 figure. That conversation can be seen and heard at the 33 minute mark of the meeting found at the following link, for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM6Ffo4-aJ4