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Should Washington allow backyard chickens? Council will discuss the possibility again

In this Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013 photo, a chicken stands by three eggs in a portable chicken coop owned by Sandy Schmidt, in Silver Spring, Md. "Eat local" is the foodie mantra, and nothing is more local than an egg from your own backyard. More and more urban and suburban dwellers are deciding to put up a coop and try chicken farming. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Charles Dharapak/AP
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AP
In this Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013 photo, a chicken stands by three eggs in a portable chicken coop owned by Sandy Schmidt, in Silver Spring, Md. "Eat local" is the foodie mantra, and nothing is more local than an egg from your own backyard. More and more urban and suburban dwellers are deciding to put up a coop and try chicken farming. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

The Washington City Council repealed a city ordinance in 2020 that allowed residents to have chickens. Five years later, the controversial issue is back on the table.

There will be a discussion about so-called backyard or residential chickens March 10 at the council's monthly committee of the whole meeting.

Alderperson Bobby Martin made the motion for the chicken discussion, which passed 5-1. He noted the high price of eggs being paid by consumers and said he didn't feel the city had the right to stop a resident who lived in a sparsely populated area from having chickens.

Martin was not on the council in 2020.

Alderperson Brian Butler was on that council. He was the lone alderperson who voted Monday against having the chicken discussion next month.

Butler voted against the chicken ordinance when it passed 5-3 in 2019. He also voted for the ordinance's repeal a year later.

"This isn't one of my prouder moments as an alderperson," he said in 2020, referring to multiple council discussions about chickens held over several months while the ordinance was passed and repealed, and a handful of residents being granted special uses by council to keep their chickens after the ordinance was repealed.

The ordinance repeal vote was 7-1.

Steve Stein is an award-winning news and sports writer and editor. Most recently, he covered Tazewell County communities for the Peoria Journal Star for 18 years.