Home & Garden

Chicken Ordinance Takes First Step

Village Board considers year-long pilot program allowing five citizens to keep chickens in their yard. Proposed day care center runs into citizen opposition.

A pilot program permitting residents to keep chickens in a coop in their yard passed its first step to becoming law during Monday’ regularly scheduled meeting of the Deerfield Village Board of Trustees.

The year-long test program provides for five licenses for up to four egg laying hens kept in approved coops in the residents’ back yards. No roosters will be allowed and neighbors will be given notice before the permit issued. License holders will also have to register with the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

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“Two people are here who have expressed an interest in a license,” Village Manager Kent Street said. “A third person has called and expressed interest. Code enforcement will do building permits inspections.”

Though a number of trustees expressed support, not all were in agreement. “Would I want a chicken coop next door and the answer is no,” Trustee William Seiden said.

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Trustee Barbara Struthers has no problem with the proposal. “I grew up with chickens in my yard and this is fine,” she said.

Citizens Voice Opposition to New Child Care Center

The Board also approved a report presented by Bright Horizons Childcare Center to establish a day care operation at 1650 Lake Cook Road providing care for 162 youngsters despite objections from a number of existing day care facilities.

The primary purpose of the new center will be handling the overflow from a facility Bright Horizons already runs on the Walgreens corporate campus on Wilmot Road as well as people who work in the 1650 building.

“Walgreens has a facility on site we operate and it has 100 on its waiting list,” Bright Horizons Vice President, Regional Development Deborah Brown said. “Walgreens has committed to 40 coming over. Twenty will come from the building.”

A number of residents who spoke at the meeting had no objection to allowing an expansion of child care for Walgreens employees but consider opening the facility to the general public contrary to Deerfield’s public interest.

“There is a great deal of availability (of existing child care) in Deerfield,” Deerfield Montessori School Director Lisa Kambich said. “The need simply isn’t there. It is not in the public interest.”

Deerfield Village Attorney Peter Colbentz gave everyone in the room a definition of the public interest after citizens voicing opposition spoke. “The public interest is the ultimate discretion of the legislative authority,” he said referring to the Board.

Patch will have detailed stories about both Bright Horizons and the proposed chicken ordinance later this week.

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