Not all is sunny side up in Orange City. Lately, there seems to be tangible tension amongst the native residents due to recent local legislation taking away the right to own poultry within city limits. Starting this year, there has been an increase in complaints about the noise level and inconvenience of residentially owned chickens.
At a July meeting, council members reviewed options for having chickens within city limits. At the time, no livestock was allowed in town, yet people owned them anyway. The board made the claim that they could amend the ordinance if there was evidence that they caused any trouble for residents. However, several council members mentioned that there had been at least 6 complaints against the noise and mess associated with livestock next door. Over the next few months, a number of city meetings and debates unfolded in an attempt to figure out what to do about the chickens in Orange City: either leave them be, instate a permit system or ban them altogether.
Many residents flocked to defend the benefits of raising and owning chickens. Some citizens mentioned the impact it has on children, since it gives them a sense of responsibility and knowledge that they would not get otherwise. Other community members spoke of the food provision and security that owning chickens provides. Local resident Ashley Stanislav witnessed the drama unfold over the summer. “It is clear that the families who had chickens were very passionate about keeping them,” Stanislav said. “I never saw any specific arguments being made by people against the chickens.”
This is because in true Orange City fashion, neighbors did not directly voice their concerns to their poultry-owning neighbors, but instead sent their complaints to the City Council, Capitol Democrat and Facebook. Letters to the Editor and passionate Facebook posts began to flood local news outlets, and it seemed to be the squawk of the town. There were several motions attempted to be passed that would allow chickens on a permit-basis, but they all failed when put to council vote. At the end of August, after a series of failed compromises, the city finally declared that no chickens would be allowed within city limits past September 15. Failure to comply would result in harsh fines.
This affected a good portion of the city, especially due to the post-Covid trend of raising chickens for eggs. Families that had owned chickens for years all the sudden had to quit cold turkey in the face of the new deadline, which caused even more uproar.
It is easy to fixate on the present issue, but which came first: the chicken problem or the city’s flawed legislature? Stanislav suggests that there may be a greater problem at hand. “The level of frustration between the chicken owners and the council seemed to grow and grow, and I think that a lot of distrust in the city council has emerged from this,” Stanislav said. “I honestly do not think most people in town care about the chicken issue specifically, but I think it has opened people’s eyes to some deeper frustrations with some members of the city council and I would not be surprised if that’s the lasting issue that emerges from all of this.”
The way in which the city council handled the situation and the short deadline to get rid of all chickens caused outrage to many that previously did not push back against city laws. This next season of city decisions will be telling to see how residents of Orange City respond. Orange City is hardly the first to be making these calls.
Other towns in Iowa are considering similar topics, such as Le Mars in July of last year, who decided to get rid of all urban birds due to the avian flu. At the moment, the Orange City legislature is such that no chickens are allowed within city limits. However, those who had to say goodbye to their poultry in September may try to hatch a plan to plead their case again in future city council meetings.
