Less than a month after first discussing a proposal to allow backyard chickens in Delaware, the city planning commission on Feb. 1 passed two motions that would crush the idea.

One motion would oppose any ordinance allowing farm animals in the city. The second would rewrite city code to prohibit “all non-domestic animals as defined by the state of Ohio (and) to include all farm animals.” Both will go to city council for consideration.

Before the votes, Lisa Keller, the new city council representative on the commission, said she received a complaint from one of her constituents about a neighbor who kept chickens.

“She told me that she has histoplasmosis, which causes a scarring of the eyes, because of exposure to chickens in her past,” Keller explained. “She told me that her condition could eventually lead to blindness if she has additional exposure to chickens.”

When the issue of keeping chickens on lots within the city limits first came up several weeks ago, Keller said she was in favor of allowing the practice.

“But that contact with my constituent reversed my thinking,” she said.

The backyard chicken inquiries were made by Sustainable Delaware, a local group promoting environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Delaware resident Bill Simpson, a member of Sustainable Delaware, spoke to the commission about his experience of keeping chickens in his backyard next door to Keller’s constituent.

“First of all, we talk to each other every time I’m out and they’re out for a walk and they never once mentioned that she had histoplasmosis or I would have gotten rid of the chickens immediately,” Simpson said. “I want to be a good neighbor.”

The commission asked Simpson why he wanted to keep chickens in the first place.

“My brother-in-law keeps reptiles and he bought six chicks to feed his snakes. But the chicks grew faster than the snakes would eat them and then we had chickens on our hands,” he said.

Simpson said the chickens were kept by his nephew, who learned valuable lessons at home by caring for the animals.

Simpson said he kept his chickens in a coop and contained run with chicken wire over it to keep out predators and that he kept his feed inside a plastic box with a lid on it.

Commissioner Jim Halter sympathized with Simpson.

“You may be the best keeper of chickens possible but I can tell you that for every person like you, there will be three who won’t follow the rules. Then what do we do? They are not easy to care for in any type of quantity,” he said.

Simpson asked the commissioners, “Why can someone keep three St. Bernards on a city lot but not four or five chickens on that same lot?”

Halter said, “There is no practical reason to raise chickens in the city.”

Because the commission made a distinction between domesticated and wild animals, Simpson asked, “But does that include pot-bellied pigs, because they can be domesticated?”

In his report to the commission, city planner David Efland argued “the vast majority of communities do not have ordinances permitting the keeping of urban chickens.”

He said “the history of disease, attraction of rodents and flies, odors, noise, and the small, close nature of our truly urban lots and residential uses all argue against a change to our current regulations.”

The motion to amend the city code passed unanimously. The motion to oppose any farm animal ordinance passed 6-1, with commissioner Maria Vonada dissenting.