By Heart Illinois ABC

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington City Council members narrowly rejected a proposal Monday night that would have allowed a woman to keep up to four chickens on a property she leases on the north side.

“At least the chickens aren’t going to take over,” joked Jamie Mathy, one of four council members voted in favor of granting Marsha Wallace a special use permit to raise the chickens at 1610 N. Lee Street.

Council Scott Black moved to deny the request after hearing from neighbors.

“If the neighbors don’t care, I don’t care. In this case, we have immediate neighbors who care and are concerned about this,” said Black.

Neighbors including Nancy Schmidgall, who lives next door at 1611 N. Lee, said she was worried about the possibility of reduced property values and that the chickens might attract wild animals.

Council members Mboka Mwilambwe, Joni Painter, Jeff Crabill, and Kimberly Bray joined Black in rejecting the request.

Chicken coops were not allowed in Bloomington until last year when the council updated its zoning code.

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