posted Jun 26, 2012 – 8:58:46am

There may be a chicken in every pot in Deltona, but there won’t be any in residents’ backyards.

After discussing the possibility, the Deltona City Commission declined June 18 to approve an ordinance that would allow some residents to keep as many as five chickens for egg production.

“I think the more we think about this, the more we have to consider the problems,” Commissioner Herb Zischkau said.

Zischkau added he was speaking from experience; he cleaned chicken coops in his younger days.

“They are filthy,” he said. “I think we ought to say no to this.”

After spending more time talking about the measure than it would take to fry a chicken, the City Commission was reluctant to approve the change in Deltona’s animal-control ordinance.

The proposal, as drafted, would have permitted as many as 25 Deltonans to raise and keep chickens — except roosters — in their neighborhoods. Permits would cost $25. The city’s code-enforcement officers would have been authorized to inspect the chicken coops and make certain they were clean and well-maintained.

As commissioners weighed the pros and cons, Acting City Attorney Wade Vose voiced some misgivings.

“To open that up citywide, I question what that would do to code enforcement,” Vose said.

The City Commission heard from people like Wayne Elam, who said he is interested in “having a close connection to our food.”

“This is allowed in many neighborhoods and large urban environments,” Elam told the governing body. “As far as messiness, they do have waste, just as every other animal.”

Theo Elam also urged the commission to approve the ordinance. he discounted the sanitation concerns.

“Go around on trash day, and you’ll see tons of cat litter, and that ends up in our landfill,” Elam said.

City Commissioner Zenaida Denizac suggested a compromise.

“Do this for a year, and revisit it,” she said.

A test period would give city officials time to determine if the chickens do indeed cause too many problems for neighbors and result in more work for code-enforcement officers, she said.

“If it’s too cumbersome, we’ll get rid of it,” Denizac added.

Commissioner Fred Lowry endorsed the idea of a trial period, “to see if this is going to work or cause an undue burden.”

But a trial period did not appeal to other commissioners.

“I can’t support this in any way. I don’t think that Deltona is a farmland,” Vice Mayor Paul Treusch said.

“My concern is more for the neighbors than anything else,” Commissioner Heidi Herzberg said.

A member of the audience, Chris Schmidt, objected to keeping chickens in neighborhoods.

“Chickens squabble and make noise all day long,” he said.

Schmidt voiced concerns about other dangers.

“Chickens attract predators,” he said, especially foxes, dogs and hawks. In addition, he said, chickens “carry bacteria, primarily salmonella.”

Mayor John Masiarczyk said he had kept chickens at his home, which sits on a large lot and is zoned rural residential, a zoning classification in Deltona that allows chickens.

Yet, Masiarczyk wondered if Deltona could afford to police small-time chicken farms.

“I don’t think there is any way we could ever break even on this,” he said. “It has an impact on the neighbors.”

Masiarczyk, in fact, passed the gavel to Treusch so he could make the motion to “suspend action” on the chicken ordinance. The commission voted 6-1 to halt consideration of the measure. Treusch cast the dissenting vote.

The June 18 meeting was the first one Commissioner Michael Carmolingo had attended in weeks, following some health problems. Carmolingo expressed thanks for the visits and get-well cards he had received.

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If your chickens are located in place not visable to the public, and your neighbors don’t rat you out, you’ll be fine raising your chickens in your backyard. when code enforcement starts climbing fences and looking for them they are encroaching on your your 4th amendment protection against unwarranted search. Lay low, be quiet and enjoy your organic eggs…I have been for years. You’ll never win this argument because a law to allow chickens would inevitably lead to irresponsible people releasing them to the wild and create a breeding ground for stray chickens. Also, what happens when you accidently end up with a rooster…not everyone knows farmers that will take them. Kudatz it doesn’t surprise me you are a sheeple advocate most likely you are a sheeple. if you to have to as why I don’t support unions then it’s not worth the time to educated you. I know sheeple abd I’m not impressed with any of you.

You often go off and personaly attack and want people to drop dead because they don’t agree with you I have no need for immature sheeple with limited gray matter.

I hope your attitudes are not the norm for residents of Deltona it has a bad enough reputation as it is.well, Mary, I’m sorry to hear that because all of my sheep are unionized. they are great sheep and I don’t want to lose any of them so I pay them a fair and decent wage for all the work they do. Which is quite a bit around the Kudatz ranch. I’m curious why you won’t befriend any union though. Kinda presumptuous don’t you think? My sheep are really great farm animals once you get to know them!thanks for nothing jerks. you do not own your property in Deltona, the Deltona Gestapo owns you and your property here. May the parasites and fleas from a million chickens infest the crotches all of those who voted against this and those who supported the vote. Kudatz since when do unions supports republicans? Before you you wish me dead as a liberal check your facts. Unions love Democrats. Unions are no friend of mine. they never have been. I don’t support candidates that they do.

You’re a real classless and clueless act there Kudatz. I have no problem with chickens…at least they don’t charge toward you growling and baring their teeth just for walking down the public sidewalk. Hey Deltona! how about checking out some of the bad dog complaints!yes only in Deltona. just Thinking things are only going to get worse as our freedoms are slowly stripped form us. look at what the current Administration is doing and planning to do. every time they strip a freedom local governments get empowered.

Changing who runs the country and local governments is the key. go to commission meetings with the same complaint no matter how many times it takes to get the community behind you and gets the commission to listen.

The next commission will be made of of union supported commissioners so hold onto your hat and see what happens with them at the helm.so my neighbor can have five dogs running loose in their back yard all day. Barking non stop 24/7, digging up and crapping in their backyard with such a pleasant aroma as I walk out my back door and that’s ok. My other neighbor can feed and water all the freakin’ feral cats, at least 20, and that’s ok. even though they destroy the native animals and use my flower beds as their personal toilets. all animal control says is as long as the dogs are not loose or threatening there’s nothing they can do. Also, dogs bark, that’s what they do and they can’t force someone to stop a dog from barking. Since the cat lady doesn’t actually own the cats, she is not technically responsible for them.

But I can’t have 5 chickens in a chicken coop that would be regularly maintained and at least provide an edible product daily.

Just more government telling us what we can’t do. I miss the freedom I was promised as a United States citizen.@jason s

The muscovy duck is not migratory. it is an invasive species that, according to FWC, “sometimes creates problems through competition with native species, damage to property, and transmission of disease.” The Department of the Interior has issued a control order for muscovy ducks (see E-CFR Title 50 Sec. 21.54).

We chose lakefront property for many reasons; i love migratory ducks, although we don’t get many (perhaps because ov the prevalence of muscovies). asking me why we chose lakefront property if we “don’t like ducks” is like asking why we have a front yard if we don’t like fire ants.

People didn’t buy their houses in town so they could live next to impromptu chicken coops. if you want to raise farm animals, go live on a farm.

Also, the ducks you mention are migratory, not pets or kept in pens. Why did you choose a lakefront property if you don’t like ducks?where to begin…

If a few chickens would be so terrible, what about those thousands of filthy Muscovy ducks that some residents insist on feeding? they “squabble and make noise all day” and mess everywhere (not in a well-mauntained coop). they have no value whatsoever, although we do know someone who says they are delicious.

Chickens attract predators? And ducks don’t? our lakefront property is beseiged by ducks. I’ve never seen a fox, seldom see a loose dog, and love seeing ospreys and hawks! if chickens are cooped the “predators” won’t get them but they’ll catch the rats from your neighbor’s

junky and unmowed yard (which Deltona has in

Deltona has plenty of chickens…we call them commissioners, and they produce more cr*p then ten chicken farms

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