Chickens to Become Legal in Evanston, Taxi Fine Increased
As always, Evanston Patch boils down a 6-hour city council meeting into a quick and easy read. And no chicken puns, we promise.
Fowl enthusiasts will soon be allowed to own 2-6 hens in Evanston, as the city council passed an ordinance Monday night that makes the birds legal -- with certain restrictions.
"The coops, I believe, will be well tended like you would anything else in your backyard that you plan to keep for a while," said Alderman Mark Tendam, 6th Ward. "I think that to say that they're going to smell bad or make noise is just not reasonable because they'll be so well provided for and no one wants to risk losing them."
The motion passed 6-3, with Aldermen Delores Holmes, 5th Ward; Judy Fiske, 1st Ward; and Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward objecting.
Hen owners will need to apply for permits, inform their neighbors about their new pets, and keep clean coops for the fowl. The hens cannot become a nuisance and owners are not allowed to slaughter them on-site.
The opposing voters noted concerns that even with regulations, hens would still be a nuisance in Evanston.
"So far what I've gotten from constituents in my ward is that the chickens would attract rodents, they would make a lot of noise, they would smell," said Jean-Baptiste.
Hens won't appear in backyards in the city immediately, however, as the license form still needs to be drafted.
The city council also approved an ordinance on taxis, which increases the fine for unlicensed taxis poaching rides in Evanston to $750, up from a fine ranging from $25-500.
Aldermen disputed the language of the ordinance, including proposed changes, and considered postponing the item until Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, noted that special order of business items cannot be tabled.
"I think what we've been given is a big mess and it's hard to vote up or down on a big mess," Rainey said.
The council eventually voted in favor of the ordinance, but ensured that the language allows for cabs hailed outside the city to still travel within Evanston to drop off customers.
Other items:
-The Kiwanis Club was recognized for outstanding service at the CommUNITY picnic
-Fire Station #5 received a LEED Gold Award. It is the first fire station in Illinois to receive the award.
-There was a presentation about sewer and water rates, but the council did not vote on raising the rates.
-There was a presentation on Evanston's new 3-1-1 line.
Kevin O'Connor
10:44 am on Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Why would Ald. Rainey find it hard to: " vote up or down on a big mess"? As one of our senior "aldermanic hens" (along with Wynne, Jean-Baptiste, Holmes & Tisdahl) she personally helped lay a "bankrupt fiscal egg" upon the taxpayers of Evanston. Given the 9-10 million dollar deficit last FY and the 3.5 million dollar deficit for the upcoming FY budget. When will our elected officials that are still in office take ownership for their culpability. The transfer of our tax dollars into TIF districts resulted in huge paydays for greedy developers, connected lawyers & municipal bond sales creatures. The citizens of Evanston were told 24 years ago that there would be such a large surplus at the end of the Downtown II TIF, that taxes would not need to be raised. The reality is that all our taxing bodies shown on our property tax bills have raised each citizens tax bill through this BACK DOOR TAX INCREASE. Our junior aldermen should be calling out our their senoir aldermanic colleagues for the fiscal bankruptcy they've caused, however honesty & courage have not shown themselves to be present in any of our new aldermens characters. Our current Council just gave 45 k in TIF money to see if it is feasible for the Varsity Theatre owners to make a profit & also voted to give 90% of ad revenue received from new bus stop shelters to a Florida vendor, while the taxpayers only receive 10% or $250 per bus stop per year. A big mess continues to get bigger at our expense. HENS? BROKE!