Politics & Government

City Council Rejects Hens In Lakewood

Effort by Mayor Michael Summers to move forward with a backyard pilot project shot down on Monday.

Those who want to raise hens in their backyards will now have to go through first. 

On Monday night, council closed a “loophole” that allowed Mayor Michael Summers to grant an exemption in an ordinance that bans hens in the city.

He had hoped to allow a one-year pilot project.

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The ordinance passed — by a 5 to 1 vote — removes the ability for the city’s director of public safety (the mayor) to grant exemptions based on reasons other than educational, scientific or commercial purposes.

“I still think it’s a thoughtful approach to a thorny issue,” said Summers. “I believed that we would learn as a community about how to consider these complex issues … The notion of a trial makes sense as a community as we learn to talk intelligently about the issues.”

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Law director Kevin Butler compared the exemption to enforcing speed limits in the city, a role that ultimately rests with the director of public safety.

“As a neutral observer of this project, I don’t think you can separate this ordinance from the Hens in Lakewood project,” Butler said. “I think this (ordinance) in its form is an attempt to stop this pilot project from moving forward.” 

Councilman Brian Powers, who sponsored the ordinance, took issue with that statement.

“This doesn’t have any thing to do with these or any animals,” Powers said. “This isn’t about chickens. We shouldn’t have a law out there that the legislative branch created and have the executive branch ignore that law entirely.”

Some council members had concerns about the wording — and future interpretation — of the ordinance. 

“My thought is that what is being proposed could be seen as an educational endeavor,” said councilman David Anderson. “It all depends on who the mayor is.”

Councilman Shawn Juris, who voted against the measure, said he disagreed with the wording in the ordinance and noted that it needed reworked.

“I’d be OK with leaving it and leaving the decision up to the executive branch,” he said. 

Council first introduced the measure in November after the grassroots effort by the group Hens in Lakewood sought to allow three families in the city to keep four hens in their backyards as part of a proposed yearlong pilot program. 

Hens in Lakewood members spent months working with the city's Animal Safety and Welfare Advisory Board, which gave its unanimous support in September. 

They'll now need to go though city council if they want to have a pilot program.

“I do understand the narrow concerns of the debate,” Summers said. “I am still disappointed that we won’t have this opportunity."


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