Hampton City Council to Reconsider Request to Have Chickens Within City Limits

A request to have chickens within city limits will be reconsidered during the Nov. 13 Hampton city council meeting.

The request from Hampton resident Mary Rodriguez was recently denied by the city council during a meeting last month. The vote was tied 3-3, with councilors Bill Holmstrom, Kristin Roode and Barry Lamos voting against it and councilors Jerre Grefe, Patrick Palmer and Jim Davies for it. The decision then went to Mayor Steve Birdsall, who voted it down. Holmstrom, who had voted yes for the other two requests that evening, voted no for Rodriguez. Requests for Jennifer Gruel and Sarah Kolb were approved immediately before this.

During the Nov. 11 city council workshop, Holmstrom addressed the public and his fellow city councilors about his decision.

“It would have been very easy for me to say no and to justify it to myself,” Holmstrom said from the podium. “My job as a councilman is to listen to our citizen’s concerns, investigate whether they are valid and reasonable and then vote … It was when you read the letters of each applicant that the differences occurred. The types of coops, the size of coops, the insulation of the coop, the particular care given to the chickens for health reasons, the assurances not to expand the number of chickens owned, the plans for chickens in the spring, the statements of never planning to sell their eggs or other goods from the chickens or not slaughtering of the chickens in city limits. These statements were made in the request for two of the applicants not but found in detail within the third application.”

The request from Rodriguez will be voted on again Thursday evening, Nov. 13.