Dover upholds chicken ban
DOVER (WJER) (June 20, 2022) – Despite a well-thought-out request from a middle-schooler, Dover will not go back to allowing chickens in city limits.
Last month, a 13-year-old resident asked council members if they would establish some new regulations to let him and others raise chickens.
This month, a committee of Council members said, “no.”
Councilman Kevin Korns says he got a lot of feedback from a lot of residents who said they did not want chickens in town.
Other members expressed concerns about noise, smells, and attracting coyotes.
City Safety Director Gerry Mroczkowski proposed the chicken ban almost four years ago.
“I have nothing against chickens, but I have to consider what’s good for the residents of the city of Dover,” he said Monday, adding he’s seen too many irresponsible chicken owners in the past to believe they would all follow new guidelines.
Mroczkowski says the city doesn’t have an animal control officer, and the police department doesn’t have the manpower to make sure chicken owners are following a new set of regulations.
City Council in June 2019 added chickens, landfowl, and waterfowl to a list of banned animals that includes sharks, scorpions, piranha fish, poisonous spiders, and many others.