Chicken therapy nonprofit’s leaving Naperville for Sycamore but owners still hoping for a place closer to city
Touch My Heart, the south Naperville nonprofit specializing in chicken therapy that came under fire for operating without necessary city approval, is moving an hour northwest.
At least that’s the idea for now.
Owner Rick Montalbano announced provisional plans to relocate operations to a 33-acre farm in Sycamore next summer at the Naperville City Council’s meeting this week. The change of address is their tentative solution to remain up and running after a snag with city code took staying put out of the question.
Since May 2021, Rick Montalbano and his wife Wendy have used chickens to provide therapy for people with special needs using infrastructure built in their 2300 Flambeau Drive backyard. However, they did so without the city’s official blessing, rendering the nonprofit noncompliant with local zoning laws.
Naperville city code only allows for a maximum of eight chickens at a residence and mandates that city permits be received before coops are built. By the time their operations were flagged, Touch My Heart had accrued 17 therapy chickens and erected coops that stretch the expanse of their yard.
To retroactively rectify the problem, the Montalbanos asked the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for a reprieve by way of variances in July. But commissioners swung the other direction. Rather than OK’ing the zoning exceptions, commissioners recommended a compromise.
The deal gave Touch My Heart 18 months to find a new site or shut down, and in the interim to downsize and seclude their operations.
Naperville City Council members approved the plan in August but reduced the relocation time to one year.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Rick Montalbano said “another charity that does very similar work to what we do just with a different type of demographic” reached out to Touch My Heart and offered to let them use their 33-acre farm in Sycamore. The couple accepted.
“We are happy to let you know that we have found a new home for the Touch My Heart therapy farm,” Montalbano said. “I know that’s a joy to many people.”
But the Montalbanos are holding out hope they can find a home closer than an hour’s drive away from where they’ve established a client base over the past two and half years.
“We have a location, but that’s basically to appease the city,” said Wendy Montalbano, speaking by phone Thursday.
On the same call, Rick Montalbano said, “We have a destination to land, but that hasn’t stopped us from looking at properties closer to Naperville.”
They’ve viewed dozens of locations in and around Naperville over the last few months but most aren’t workable because of zoning restrictions, they said.
They wouldn’t have to worry about having too many chickens with 33 acres, but it’s not ideal from a convenience standpoint.
“The further we go out … the more it will inhibit those (we serve who) are not able to travel long periods of time, which is why we are still anxiously searching for options closer,” Wendy Montalbano said.
To keep all possibilities on the table, the couple said they have told those behind the Sycamore farm offer that plans might change if somewhere closer to Naperville becomes available.
“The organization that we would be partnering with knows and understands this,” Rick Montalbano said.
In the meantime, they’re are also starting to figure out the logistics for the move to Sycamore.
“My time will be split between fundraising — because it will take a lot of financial resources to move — and simultaneously continuing to serve those in this community … (But) the burden of the transition will be on us, not the people that we serve,” Montalbano said.
He added that he and his wife are feeling better about the transition than they had been thanks to some allowances made by elected officials this week.
The council agreed to let up on some stipulations previously set, which dictated they reduce the number of chickens from 17 to 12; erect a 6-foot privacy fence around their yard; remove a portable restroom; and remove any chicken coop structures not laid out in original site plans.
Montalbano said they have satisfied the first two requests but asked the council to reconsider the others. The chicken coops improve accessibility for those using their services and the portable restroom allows them to comply with the American with Disabilities Act.
In exchange, the Montalbanos agreed to relocate by June 30, 2024.
“We’re happy that we’ve been able to come to an agreement,” Rick Montalbano said. “Our concern is, really, taking care of the adult special needs community. … We’re just glad to move on to the next chapter.”
