By Charlie McKee
On Tuesday evening, Oct. 11, the Town Council approved the Notice of Intent Ordinance No. 1188, a.k.a. the “Chicken Ordinance”, which amends the existing Chapter 6 Town of Silver City Municipal Code regarding the keeping of dogs, cats, cattle, horses, fowl, or livestock within the city limits.
As with all Notices of Intent, the Town Council's approval of this one allows time for public input to the Ordinance prior to the Ordinance's final approval or disapproval, which will be scheduled for the Town Council Meeting on Nov. 8. The majority of citizens' input Tuesday evening regarding the ordinance focused on two major issues:
· Food Security - Town residents, who own chickens for personal use and those who do not, appeared before the Council to testify to the value of chickens as a sustainable, alternative food source for individual citizens, particularly those of low income. The ordinance would restrict town citizens to keeping a maximum of four chickens per household, which are arguably not enough to provide eggs and meat for a family (i.e. more than one person) on an ongoing basis.
· Civil Liberties - Several citizens protested the restriction of the number of animals allowed per household, as well as what may or may not be fed to the animals, as specified in the ordinance. While the number of allowed dogs and cats is actually increased to a total of three in the ordinance (as opposed to the current two), the number of chickens is restricted to four. In public testimony, several people raised the enforcement of these numbers as a potential civil liberties issue, since it would require invasion of private property to determine the number of existing animals and since it is legislating what individuals can and cannot do on their own private property.
Alan Wagman, speaking as a private citizen during public input, pointed out that a more reasonable and more easily enforceable approach would be for the ordinance to legislate against nuisance and noise versus legislating numbers. He gave the analogy of restricting the number of CDs a person can have in order to keep them from playing their stereo too loudly as similar to restricting the number of chickens a person can have in order to stop their nuisance and noise factors.
Roger Lanse, also speaking as a private citizen, proposed the simple solution of allowing residents to keep any animal(s) until such time as a neighbor complained, at which time the resident would be required to get rid of said animal(s).
While other public input to the Chicken Ordinance included some name-calling, as well as the opinion that “it is un-American not to have chickens,” most citizens thanked Councilors Cynthia Bettison and Mike Morones for their research and hard work to address the necessity for change to the current Municipal Code as written.
Mayor James Marshall concluded the public input session by entreating the Town's citizens to educate the Council over the next few weeks with specific research and recommended changes to the ordinance regarding the keeping of chickens, particularly in the areas of food security and sustainability.
On a completely different topic, Nancy Gordon gave a presentation to the Town Council regarding the Silver City Waterworks Building and the recent work that was completed in September to save the building's walls from crumbling.
Nancy's video presentation included:
· A brief history of the 1887 building, which is the only stone building left in Silver City from that era;
· An outline of steps taken to date to preserve the Waterworks building for posterity, including its addition to the National Historic Register in 1984;
· A summary of the mortar “pointing” work recently completed in September by more than 70 town volunteers to shore up the walls of the building; and
· A vision of what the building with proper renovation could become as a Heritage Center for the citizens of Silver City for generations to come.
Nancy pointed out that the town's options with respect to the disposition of the historic Waterworks Building are as follows:
· Do nothing, and let the building fall down;
· Stabilize the building as a Historic Landmark;
· Partially renovate the building for safety to allow public access; or
· Fully renovate the building as a complete Heritage Center site, in conjunction with the town's Botanical Gardens, the neighboring school, and the existing property's water rights.
Mayor James Marshall again stated, as in prior Town Council meetings, that he would “follow up” by scheduling a work session to address the disposition of the historic Waterworks building.
In other business, the Town Council approved the following Notices of Intent Ordinances:
A. No. 1186 - Plan A-1 reorganizing existing Town Council districts of the Town of Silver City,
B. No. 1187 - Plan B reorganizing existing Town Council districts of the Town of Silver City, and
C. No. 1189 - Amending the Planning and Zoning Commission to have 7 members.
In addition, the Council approved the following items:
A. Resolution No. 2011-24 to re-purpose the 11th Street right-of-way from a roadway to a public parking area;
B. Bid #11/12-5: Old landfill corrective measures $244K awarded to Southwest Concrete & Paving;
C. Bid #11/12-7: 2011 CDBG Colonias water system improvements $389K awarded to J&S Plumbing; and
D. Bid #11/12-8: 10th Street realignment at Mountain View Road $123K awarded to SW Concrete & Paving.
The Council appointed the following people to open town committee positions:
· Phillip Cave as a member of the Silver City Veterans Park Advisory Committee,
· Aaron Hozid as a member of the Museum Board,
· Mary Beckworth as a member of the Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement Citizens Advisory Committee, and
· Becky Smith and David Lawrence as members of the Historic Design Review Committee.
Lastly, Mayor James Marshall made the following proclamations:
· The month of October 2011 shall be Walk/Bike to School Month,
· Oct. 16 to 22, 2011, shall be Fire Prevention Week, and
· Oct. 23 to 29, 2011, shall be Pro Bono Legal Aid Awareness Week.