What the Flock? Pottstown Council Committee Will Reexamine Allowing Backyard Chickens in Town

With a 4-3 vote, Pottstown Borough Council agreed Monday to take another stab at modifying its animal ordinances to allow the raising of chickens.

The vote happened at a meeting which had accusations of threats, the borough authority weighing in, a candidate announcing her intent to run against Council President Dan Weand and one councilman saying he was "ashamed to be a member of council" in the wake of last week's free-for-all.

The vote sends the matter back to council's Ordinance Review Committee, which has already rejected any changes once.

Councilman Ryan Procsal, who voted against making changes and chairs that committee, warned the council members who support the change that they had better come to the committee meeting to make suggestions, "otherwise its just going to be bounced right back" to council.

Councilwomen Trenita Lindsay and Lisa Vanni both said they will do so. It also means the matter is likely to come back to council again.

Procsal said he has been chairman of ordinance review committee for several years, and pointed out "any time we change an ordinance, it's not for free. We're not here to spend money on essentially people's hobbies," adding "it's not good for the gander."

(I swear he said that.)

The vote came only after some spirited discussion from five public speakers and the council members themselves.

Perhaps most remarkable were non-specific charges made by Vanni and Councilman Joe Kirkland of "bullying" and even threats made, presumably, against pro-chicken council members.

"Now we have people threatening council people. I'm not talking about citizens, I'm talking about government people. That's ridiculous," said Kirkland. "You're threatening people? Over chickens?"

Councilman Michael Paules, who was not at last week's work session because he now works second shift and it's harder for him to make meetings, said he was shocked when he saw the video of Wednesday's work session.

"I've never been more ashamed to say I am on borough council after watching that video," he said. "We're all grown ups and you can't always get what you want."

"Pottstown is five square miles, not five blocks on High Street. You made such a big deal over something so minute. It's disgusting. I love you all, but I am ashamed of you all," Paules said. 

"Why don't people get so worked up over Hill School buying properties and taking them off tax rolls? Or street trees ruining sewer pipes, or all the rats and mice and mosquitoes that are going to be attracted by those meadows? Everybody got so worked up over a bunch of chickens," said Paules.

Similarly, Mayor Stephanie Henrick thanked people for "being so passionate about chickens. If people put this much effort into fair funding, our kids would have a better education by now."

(You can learn more about how Pottstown gets screwed over by Pennsylvania's unfair and racist education funding this Sunday at 4 p.m. when Laura Johnson, Pottstown School District Board of Directors and Co-founder of Pennsylvanians for Fair Funding, will discuss how inequitable education funding affects every aspect of our community. Click here to watch it live and participate. For more background, read this, and this.)  

"I hope the whole chicken thing brought to up how people are struggling daily with certain issues, like snow on High Street and broken windows there," said Vanni. "I hope you got to hear some of those concerns from people you reached out to about chickens."

Resident Darlene Bainbridge says she supports "responsible and regulated chicken ownership in the borough" and added that if all the problems being forecast develop, the ordinance can be undone.

Robert Hartman Jr., a former Pottstown School Board member, told council "we are not a country town, compared to what it was years ago. I have nothing against people having regular pets, but there are places for everything."

There are small farms in the area that can provide fresh eggs and would love support from Pottstown residents," Hartman said, adding that chickens attract rats "and other varmints."

(And just like that, we were in the middle of a Looney Tunes cartoon.)

Concern about chickens attracting rats who want their feed was also expressed by no less than everyone's favorite plumber, Aram Ecker, who spoke on behalf of the Pottstown Borough Authority of which he is vice-chairman.

Ecker read a letter signed by himself and Authority Chairman Jeff Chomnuk which declared that "chickens are farm animals. While the idea might seem trendy or nice, this is an urban area with small lots," Ecker read, noting that smell and potential chicken waste pollution in stormwater run-off are all negatives.

The authority letter also expressed concern about the likelihood that more backyard chickens would attract foxes and coyotes, for which the chickens ARE the feed.

Weand said over the weekend he became aware of a neighbor near Franklin Elementary School who kept chickens and ducks and complained about losing the ducks to foxes. 

"We know about foxes. I see them coming over from country club all the time," said Weand. Allowing more chickens would be "like fox bait. It would be like putting shark bait at the beach."

Speaking of Weand, a little extra political flavor was added to the night when Jenifer Green, who ran against Weand in 2017 and lost, and announced she will oppose him again in November.

"The papers were filed today," Green said after speaking out in favor of allowing backyard chickens. "Go team chicken" was how she chose to end her three minutes of comment.

At the end of it all, council member Trenita Lindsay, Kirkland, Vanni and Paules voted in favor of looking again t finding a way to allow chickens. Voting No were Weand, Procsal and Vice Chairman Don Lebedynsky. 

"So be it," was Weand's reaction to the vote.

Click here to read the Tweets from the meeting in reverse order because Twitter would not let me re-arrange them into chronological order as I usually do.