DAVENPORT, Iowa-- Davenport City Council members will review an ordinance that could allow residents to keep up to six hens in their backyards.
The discussion will be a part of the council's Committee of the Whole meeting Wednesday, January 4.
This comes after both Moline and Rock Island approved a similar plan last year. The plan in Davenport is to mirror a ordinance after current successful plans in other cities. This would include limiting single family households to no more than six hens, requiring residents to get a license and to comply with set performance standards.
"We look at every other city that is doing it and try to make sure we pick the best parts of each of those ordinances, so I think we will have a good program if this does pass council," says Davenport Alderman Bill Boom.
Boom says a lot of people in the community have already shown a lot of support for the Urban Chicken Ordinance. More than 500 people from the Davenport and Scott County backyard chickens group signed a petition in support.