Horace City Council gives approval to backyard chickens

HORACE, N.D. (KVRR-KFGO) – It’s taken some time but the Horace City Council has approved the backyard chicken ordinance and residents will very soon be able to own up to six chickens to accommodate growing interest in the practice.

“We did approve the ordinance, however there is a little bit of time while we get that ordinance in place. Then, people will be allowed to legally have chickens in Horace,” communications specialist Paul Hankel said. “We’ll be doing a lot of messaging on that when that date comes. I don’t have the specifics on when the ordinance is officially in effect, but we are going to move quick on this. It has been a long process. We wanted to make sure we did it right and I believe that we did.”

Hankel says there was one change to the originally proposed ordinance that will allow seven-foot high structures instead of a six-foot high structure height limit. The City Council tabled the matter several weeks ago to discuss specifics about coop size, spacing requirements and several other items before finalizing the ordinance and approved it unanimously.

The city conducted a backyard chicken ordinance survey earlier this year and the community overwhelmingly supported the plan.