- Jun 21, 2011
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My parents and I recently brought an ordinance to legalize backyard chickens in my hometown of Normal, IL. We bought and built a coop, drafted the ordinance based on those in similar municipalities, started a Facebook group, gathered petition signatures, talked to local media (most of which seemed to favor the ordinance), got a recommendation from the local planning commission, and brought the ordinance before the town council last week. Despite all of these things, the ordinance failed and only the Mayor voted in favor of allowing backyard chickens. Local council members cited reasons such as personal opposition, chickens being "too progressive," and property rights concerns. We are now investigating other possible ways of challenging the prohibition of backyard chickens. As a law student, I am working on doing legal research on the claim that prohibition is unconstitutional -- an assertion made by some advocates of backyard chickens -- but I have also read that some cities that have successfully challenged prohibition have published guides for other residents seeking to do the same. I cannot, however, find these guides online for the life of me despite finding references to them in articles in The New Yorker, other Facebook groups, and forum posts as none of them provide links. A series of Google searches also yielded no results. Has anyone here found these guides? What other avenues have you used to challenge anti-chicken ordinances once an appeal for change has failed? Thank you for any suggestions! My father, especially, has become disheartened in the face of the rejection of our ordinance, and I would just love to give him a guide to moving forward as a late father's day gift.
