Daisy, in front, pecks around in the doorway of Lori Jean Kross-Bleau and Alva Bleau’s chicken coop in the village of Tupper Lake. To her left, in speckled white and black, is Purdue. Behind them is Tyson, Chicken Nugget, Chicken Patty and Woodstock. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

TUPPER LAKE — The Tupper Lake village board on Wednesday laid out a process to potentially allow residents to keep egg-laying hens on their properties. The 3-2 vote followed a two-month public comment period that brought in dozens of responses.

Trustee Ron LaScala, who brought the chicken issue to the board back in November 2020, will draft an amendment to the local law on egg-laying hens, along with the village attorney. He hopes to present the final language to the board at its March meeting.

A public comment session will be held on the final language, and the village board will vote on the amendment.

Roosters would not be allowed in the village either way.

The topic of chickens has been incubating in the village for a few months now and has proved to be divisive. People on both sides feel passionate about their viewpoints. A common refrain at Wednesday’s meeting among people on both sides of the debate was that “everyone has their opinion.”

Those for allowing chickens see it as a rights issue, believing rearing hens for food and fun should be allowed if they do not cause a nuisance.

Those against it see it as a quality-of-life issue, believing chickens would bring down property values, create an unavoidable nuisance and attract wild animals looking to eat them.

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Public comment

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The village office had not received many new public comments since its December meeting, village Clerk Mary Casagrain said — three new “for” and three new “against” since Dec. 18.

But on Wednesday LaScala presented the board with a collection of 58 “for” comments his wife Amanda gathered via social media.

“She and several of her Facebook friends shared a post,” LaScala wrote in a text. “From there she compiled people’s comments after getting their permission to use the comments and submit them to the village board.”

That brings the total to 64 comments “for” and 15 “against.”

Several of these comments came from people who say they currently own chickens, used to own chickens and would again, or know someone in the village who owns chickens. Some said they have no interest in raising chickens but do not oppose their neighbors doing so.

Some comments also came from residents of the town of Tupper Lake outside the village, a few of whom said they own chickens and own property in the village, too.

Village Code Enforcement Officer Peter Edwards said current chicken owners in the village will not be written up for the time being, until the board makes a final decision on the issue.

“I am currently refraining from giving a notice of violation for chickens to the few people I found out had chickens here in the village of Tupper Lake while the board is in the process of possibly allowing egg-laying hens,” Edwards wrote in a text. “However, if someone files a complaint about chickens, then I’ll send a notice to the owner of the chickens as I have done several times in the past.”

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Current rules

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Farm animals, including chickens, are currently outlawed in the village code and in the local joint zoning rules the village has with the town of Tupper Lake. Chickens are legal in the town with a special-use permit from the joint planning board.

The two municipalities are in the process of drafting new zoning regulations, which would have language allowing egg-laying hens. However, Edwards said “the current village law banning farm animals would still take precedent. … Unless the village board did a modification to the law to allow egg laying hens.”

LaScala does not want the potential village amendment to require people to go to the planning board to get approval for chickens. He thinks it should be allowed automatically, regulated and restricted only if there is a problem.

LaScala keeps two chickens in his backyard already and voted to move forward with the potential proposal.

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Recusal refusal

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Trustee Leon LeBlanc brought this up at Wednesday’s meeting and said LaScala should recuse himself from the vote because he believes his owning chickens constitutes a conflict of interest.

“I think Mr. Ron LaScala has to abstain from any vote because he has chickens on his property,” LeBlanc said.

LaScala said it is legal for him to vote on the matter and that since he does not make money on his birds, he does not believe it is a conflict.

“I’m not going to do that. If you’d like to file a complaint, you’re welcome to,” he said.

“Mr. Mayor, that’s your call,” LeBlanc said to Mayor Paul Maroun.

Maroun continued with the vote. He and LeBlanc voted against moving forward with the proposal.

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Discussion

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“I’ve always been against the chickens inside this village,” LeBlanc said. “Chickens carry disease just like everything else.

“We have a lot of expensive homes in this village,” LeBlanc said. “When I have a beautiful home that’s worth $210,000 or better … I don’t want chickens around it. … I know up here in our community, for a fact, just around that area where I live, we do not want that to happen.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” LeBlanc said. “If they want to have chickens, take them up to the Wild Center (nature museum). If they want to buy eggs, let the Wild Center sell them.”

LaScala said other tourist communities, such as Key West in Florida, allow chicken-rearing. He believes it is people’s right to do so.

“If you don’t want chickens, maybe you should move to a community that has a homeowners association,” LaScala said. “We’re talking about public streets here.

“We’re talking about a chicken,” he continued. “We’re not talking about a horse. We’re not talking about a cow. We’re not talking about an elephant or a giraffe or any other kind of crazy animal. We’re talking about a bird.”

Trustee Jason McClain said he agrees that the public should have the right to raise hens.

“Times change. Situations change, as everyone’s seen with this pandemic. There’s families struggling for food. There’s families struggling for work,” McClain said. “Decisions were made in the past for certain reasons. Decisions get changed.”

He voted to move forward with the potential amendment.

“I’m very on the fence on this whole thing, but I am voting yes,” Trustee Clint Hollingsworth said.

He said he believes the issue should not be a simple “yes” or “no” to chicken-owning. He said if the village allows it, there need to be criteria and regulations.