More fowl allowed in Fort Smith
For those who already have more than 20 chickens on a 5 acres in Fort Smith, they will be allowed to keep on cluckin'.
The Fort Smith Board of Directors voted Tuesday to allow people to keep up to 20 chickens or ducks on at least a half acre of property.
A grandfather clause was approved by the Fort Smith Board of Directors, allowing people to keep more than 20 birds on 5 acres.
The board of directors voted Tuesday night at the regular monthly meeting to increase the number of chickens and ducks allowed from 10 birds to 20 birds on a half acre. At least two chicken owners on separate properties in Fort Smith are known to have more than 20 chickens already. And they can legally keep them now if they provide the city with a letter about their current inventory.
Board Director Jarred Rego explained the proposed chicken ordinance changes were revised to include an emergency clause as well.
Maggie Rice, Fort Smith director of development services, said property owners with five acres and more than 20 birds to obtain conditional use approval and go through a public hearing process. She also answered questions from board director George Catsavis about fowl problems in the city.
"We receive complaints on chickens weekly," Rice told Catsavis at the Tuesday meeting.
"Typically it's roosters. It's the noise," Rice said. "It can range. Sometimes the chickens are free range and that causes issues. Sometimes it can be aesthetic quality of the surroundings of the chicken. Sometimes, it can vary quite frankly. The majority of the time it is from the noise from the roosters."
She said there have been complaints from people about the smell of chickens. She added there has only been one complaint about chickens on 5 acres or more in the past 10 years.
Director Neal Martin proposed the amendment to add the grandfather clause and allow people who already have more than 20 on 5 acres to keep them.
Martin said that the number of people who have chickens is a small percentage of the population. Rice confirmed that there are 170 parcels of land in Fort Smith over 5 acres in size.
On July 11, the planning commission recommended residents should be able to have more chickens or ducks on at least 21,780 square feet of land, or a half an acre, or more.
Board directors voted 6-1 to approve the increase of birds to 20 on 5 acres in city limits. Board director Andre Good voted against it.
"We're a small big city, and we're growing, so my thought is I want to focus on where we need to be in the future," Good said. Directors Martin, Lavon Morton, Kevin Settle, Jarred Rego, Christina Catsavis and George Catsavis voted in favor.
Russell Bragg of Fort Smith told directors he has been in the chicken business for 35 years. He said he thinks allowing 20 chickens on at least a half acre is "very generous."
The vote was 5-2 to allow those with more than 20 birds already on 5 acres to keep them under the grandfather clause with Good and director Settle voting no. Directors Rego, Christina Catsavis, George Catsavis, Lavon Morton, and Neal Martin voted in favor.
Roosters are not allowed in Fort Smith city limits, only hens.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Chickens and ducks may be on the increase in Fort Smith with approval
