Starting in February, Detroit residents can keep chickens, ducks and honeybees at their homes, though not everyone in the Motor City is happy about the change.
The Detroit City Council on Tuesday voted 5-3 to approve zoning and animal control ordinances to allow the animals after discussing the issue for nearly a decade, Bridge Detroit reports.
The move, spearheaded by Councilman James Tate and backed by urban farming groups like Keep Growing Detroit, was promoted as a way to combat food insecurity and improve access to fresh eggs, honey and meat.
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“I believe that we should be able to do whatever we want on land that we own and we pay taxes on, as long as it’s not harming the environment, infrastructure, is not a nuisance to your neighbor, and is not immoral,” Tate said at an October meeting.
The changes will require residents in the city limits to obtain a license to keep animals on property they legally control, and allow for the revocation of those licenses for public health issues.
The new ordinance allows up to eight chickens and ducks and four honeybee hives per residence, though urban gardens and farms can keep up to a dozen ducks and chickens and eight hives, depending on size.
The ordinance forbids roosters, and requires chickens and ducks to be kept at least 30 feet from neighboring homes and five feet from property lines. Bees must be kept 25 feet from property lines, the Detroit Metro Times reports.
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Other provisions stipulate regulations for animal shelters, storing food and compost, removing manure, mitigating pests, tagging animals, disposing of dead animals, water runoff, and slaughters, which must be conducted at licensed facilities.
City staff noted Tuesday that an unknown number of city residents are already keeping the farm animals at their homes under the radar.
“It’s time for us to allow for policy to catch up with the reality of things,” Tate said Tuesday, according to WJBK.
Other council members disagreed.
Councilwoman Mary Waters complained that chickens “stink” and predicted they would cause disputes between neighbors, while Councilwoman Angela Whitfield-Calloway alleged animal control officials are already struggling to control animals on the loose, pointing to violent dog attacks and an alleged buffalo running through the city, Bridge Detroit reports.
“I don’t think people, when they moved in the city, wanted to live next to chickens and roosters and ducks and buffaloes and pot belly pigs and goats and sheep and horses,” she said. “At least I didn’t. That’s not what I signed up for.”
Buffaloes, pigs, goats, sheep and horses all remain prohibited under the new ordinances, which a 2015 Michigan State University study predicted could boost the number of Detroit households with farm animals to 3,000.
Keep Growing Detroit estimates the city is already home to about 2,300 urban gardens and farms, and about 200 residents already keep bees.
“I think it makes no sense to overburden folks who are trying to do the right thing, take care of their family, feed their family, and know where their food is coming from,” Tate said, according to CBS News.
Plenty of folks who testified about the change seem to agree.
“One of the key advantages of this ordinance is the potential to provide residents access to fresh and local eggs by allowing chickens and ducks within the city,” said Jon Kent, founder of Sanctuary Farms said.
“As the mother of three young daughters in an age when food insecurity presents itself as a serious problem, I believe firmly that citizens should have the right to grow and raise their own food,” Detroit resident Nicole Marcotte added.
Others, including Detroit Food Policy Councilmember Jason Lindy, also pointed to how the change could provide other benefits for Detroit’s youth.
“Here in Michigan, farming can become a real career, and I believe Detroit youth should have exposure to that as well,” Lindy said.