Some Chelsea residents think the city should allow backyard chickens.

Corinna Borden | Contributor

Chris Felesky, a Chelsea resident spearheading the effort, said chickens are friendly, social, intelligent, affectionate, entertaining, low maintenance, small, quiet and inexpensive to keep. Felesky's been distributing a flier throughout the city with the catch phrase," Where chickens are outlawed, only outlaws will have chickens," and the group's Facebook page has more than 100 friends.

Felesky and his group will host a discussion and showing of the film “Mad City Chickens,” on Feb. 21. The documentary shows how residents in Madison, Wis., worked together to convince elected officials to allow chickens inside city limits.

In 2009, when the Chelsea Planning Commission last visited the backyard chicken issue, it recommended that the city keep the status quo, which restricts livestock ownership to Chelsea residents who own 5 acres or more. The City Council went along with that recommendation.

“No one’s arguing that chickens are good or bad but when you have compact lots that are 60 feet or smaller,” anything that’s done on one lot has a direct affect on another, said Jim Drolett, Chelsea’s zoning and planning director.

Felesky disagrees. “In urban areas, chickens are usually kept in enclosures as pets,” he said. Urban chickens are usually housed in a 4 by 6 coop, which can be easily moved to allow the chickens access to fresh ground, he said.

During their research in 2009, planners found the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti allowed chickens, while the villages of Dexter and Manchester and Ypsilanti Township either banned or placed restrictions on livestock inside the municipal boundaries.

The Planning Commission was also concerned that allowing chickens would open the door to other types of livestock, according to a Nov. 24, 2009 letter from George Kinzer, chairman of the commission. The letter also expressed concerns about public health since “keeping livestock on small lots in dense residential areas may introduce an increased rodent population and other sanitation issues,” the letter stated.

Drolett said while some Chelsea residents are very conscientious about having a clean yard, others might not be as considerate. He said there’s also an enforcement issue to be considered.

“Who’s going to follow up on these chickens?" he said.

Felesky and his group are advocating for allowing an undetermined number of chickens but not roosers, which are not needed for egg production.

Felesky, who moved to Chelsea from Lyndon Township, has invited City Council and Planning Commission members as well as anyone interested in learning more about backyard chickens to the library event. The film and a discussion will take place Feb. 21 beginning at 6:15 p.m. in the McKune Room of the Chelsea District Library.

“The ability to produce some of our own food in our backyards leads to a more resilient, self sufficient city— which is in every resident’s best interest, whether they are raising chickens or not,” Felesky said.

Lucy Silverio, a city resident, is working with Felesky to get the ordinance changed. She was one of several Chelsea residents forced to find new homes for her chickens when the city discovered people were raising them inside the city limits.

Also a part of the small core group is Patrick Zieske of Sylvan Township. Zieske said the Chelsea chicken issue is one that shouldn't be too divisive. “Owning chickens allows people to have a more sustainable and resilient community,” he said.

Felesky agreed. “A few laying hens in the backyard doesn’t make it into a poultry farm any more than a few tomato plants turns it into a plantation,” he said.

Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter with AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Chelsea stories, visit our Chelsea page.