Neighbors express opposition to keeping chickens

BY KEVIN BONESKE

REPORTER/PHOTOGRAPHER

Rhinelander’s Public Safety Committee voted Tuesday in favor of granting a permit for Aline Brokmeier to keep chickens on her property in the city at 1021 Echo Lane.

City building inspector/fire chief Terry Williams said the issue came before the committee as required under the city code because of the opposition from neighbors who were notified of the application.

“We received a pretty good response from neighbors all in opposition to this particular chicken permit,” said Williams, who also noted “there is definitely, without a doubt, a neighbor vs. neighbor issue in this neighborhood.”

Brokmeier, who showed committee members photos of the property, said the “square footage is over and above what’s required.”

“The coop is perfect,” she said. “Lots of ventilation, insulated, perfect.”

A drawing provided to committee members indicates the chicken coop, a repurposed camping trailer, will be in a corner of the property next to an empty lot along with a swamp to the back.

“It’s kind of a neat idea and it’s parked in the back corner of the lot, opposite the neighbor that there’s been issues with,” Williams said. “So, what I guess I’m saying is she put it as far away from his house as physically possible on her lot.”

Committee chairman Alex Young said the chicken permit would meet all of the requirements to be issued, which needs final approval by the full City Council.

“Terry has said that her yard is clean and free of junk,” Young said.

According to the related city ordinance enacted in 2013, a permit issued annually is required to keep chickens in Rhinelander. The ordinance provisions include allowing up to four chickens with a permit on a single- or two-family residential premise, though roosters are not allowed.