STUART — Stuart residents could soon be allowed to keep chickens in their backyards under a proposed ordinance change backed this week by the city’s Community Redevelopment Board.
The proposal comes as interest in backyard food production and sustainable living practices continues to grow, according to city officials.
“The City Commission recognizes a growing trend towards sustainable living practices including a desire to incorporate fresher locally sourced products into daily diets,” said Jodi Kugler, the city’s planning and zoning development director. “Additionally, there is an increasing interest in providing residents with opportunities to engage in small-scale backyard food production. Allowing a limited number of chickens on residential properties supports these objectives by enabling property owners to produce eggs for personal consumption.”
Under the proposed amendment, residents would face restrictions on how many chickens they could keep and would have to pay an annual $65 fee intended to cover inspections of chicken coops.
“The proposed amendment would permit keeping up to four chickens as an accessory use on occupied detached single-family and duplex properties within the R1A, R1, R2 and urban neighborhood and single-family detached zoning districts within the East Stewart neighborhood,” Kugler said.
One of the proposal’s strongest supporters was Community Redevelopment Board Vice Chair Bonnie Moser, who said keeping chickens has benefited her own household in several ways.
“I’m going to be really honest here. I have chickens in my backyard,” Moser said. “We eat the eggs every day. We use our food scraps to feed them. We compost their manure into my vegetable garden. For the clerks that got flowers today, those were fertilized with my chicken manure.”
Not everyone on the board supported the idea.
Board member Frederick James said he worried about potential impacts on neighborhoods and questioned whether allowing chickens could eventually lead to pressure for broader agricultural uses in residential areas.
“My issue would be the smell or the noise,” James said. “If we start down this road allowing chickens, somebody’s going to come and request the change the ordinance that we could have pigs in the neighborhood. Just make it all agricultural and be done with it.”
Moser pushed back on concerns about noise, arguing that hens are quieter than many common neighborhood disturbances.
“The female chickens, which is what we’re talking about here, they really only make noise when they’re laying an egg, which happens about in the middle of the day, early morning,” she said. “It’s a couple clucks and then it goes away. As long as they’re not being attacked by anything, they’re not making noise. The crows on my street make a hundred times more noise. The dogs in the neighborhood make way more noise.”
She also said small backyard coops differ significantly from large-scale commercial poultry farms that are often associated with strong odors.
“Smell is another one that folks are often concerned about and I get that because when you’re on the interstate in Florida or Georgia and you pass a giant chicken farm, it stinks,” Moser said. “But when we’re talking about four chickens or less, there’s really no smell and you’re all welcome to come to my backyard and check that out.”
Moser also argued that backyard chickens could help children better understand where food comes from.
“They don’t understand that chickens lay eggs and that’s where they come from,” she said. “They think they come from the grocery store.”
Board Chair Frank McChrystal remained unconvinced, saying feedback from his neighbors opposed the proposal.
“St. Lucie County allows it. Martin County does not. I think Martin County got it right and without going into great discussion, I’ll be voting against it,” McChrystal said. “That’ll be my vote.”
Despite objections from James and McChrystal, the board voted 5-2 to recommend approval of the ordinance changes to the Stuart City Commission.
Board members also recommended revisions allowing chicken coops up to 7 feet tall and permitting hedges alongside fences as additional barriers around the coops.