GRAND RAPIDS, Ohio — More and more people have been looking for ways to raise their own food in recent years, including in residential neighborhoods.
There are many reasons for the movement; from health to sustainability.
The recent increase in the price of eggs has only strengthened the movement.
Longstanding rules and ordinances in cities and towns, however, can often stand in the way.
That has some people pushing for changes to those rules.
For instance, there is a push right now in the city of Grand Rapids, Ohio to allow residents to raise chickens inside village limits.
Currently there is an ordinance in the books in the small Wood County village on the banks of the Maumee River that keeps residents from raising chickens or any other livestock inside village limits.
One resident has made it her mission to get village officials to change that law and she thinks she has the community's support.
Michelle O'Neill says when she lived in Toledo, she was able to raise chickens at her home in west Toledo.
She was excited when she moved to Grand Rapids, to a much larger property, to continue raising chickens. She was was soon disappointed however.
“I found it very interesting that here we are, a very rural community. Waterville allows chickens, Whitehouse allows chickens, Toledo allows chickens and here in Grand Rapids we are not allowed to have chickens,” said O’Neill.
O’Neill believes there is strong support in Grand Rapids for overturning the ordinance.
She started a petition on Change.org which gathered 120 supporters.
At the same time, there are many reasons people might have to not allow chickens in residential areas: cleanliness, noise from roosters, concerns about disease.
O'Neill says a proposed ordinance she submitted to the village, which is based on Toledo's ordinance allowing backyard chickens, would address those concerns.
O’Neill is hoping her work pays off and the backyard chicken movement can gain another victory this month.
"My main reasons are for health, for food security, for the rights of the residents of Grand Rapids. I'm not trying to start a farm here," said O'Neill.
If you live in Grand Rapids and would like to have a say on whether the village should allow chickens in residential areas, for or against, the village is holding a meeting to consider a change in the ordinance on Wednesday, March 29 in the Old Fire Hall on Front Street at 6 p.m.
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