Overland Park will allow residents to keep backyard chickens on some smaller lots in residential areas more permanently.

On Monday, the Overland Park City Council voted 7-3 to enshrine in city code a two-year backyard chicken pilot program. Councilmembers Jeff Cox, Paul Lyons and Fred Spears cast the no votes. Councilmembers Melissa Cheatham and Holly Grummert were absent from the meeting.

“Just because we have and allow chickens doesn’t mean that people are going to have chickens,” Councilmember Scott Mosher said, supporting the ordinance as written. “Those that do get them will take care of them, as our pilot has proved.”

Overland Park backyard chicken pilot yielded no complaints

Before the city started the pilot, Overland Park allowed backyard chickens on lots that were three acres or larger by right, but the city required special use permits on smaller residential lots.

That process proved arduous at times, requiring approval from both the Overland Park Planning Commission and the city council.

The pilot, which the city approved in 2021, allowed property owners to obtain permits for backyard chickens on lots at least a quarter-acre in size. It was overseen by the city clerk and animal control, and city staff said there were no complaints from neighbors.

The new backyard chicken rules explained:

• Under the new ordinance, residents can keep backyard chickens on lots .20 acres or larger, a reduction in the requirement from the pilot.
• You can only keep hens, no roosters.
• The number of chickens allowed is based on property size.
• The city clerk and animal control still permit and enforce the backyard chickens rules.
• Additionally, the city manager’s office sets the fees.
• Homeowners associations still have the authority to ban chickens in their neighborhoods, and city rules do not supersede that.

Some councilmembers were concerned about compatibility

Initially, the ordinance was listed on the city council’s consent agenda, but Councilmember Lyons asked to have it considered separately.

Lyons, who opposed the backyard chicken pilot program in 2021 and repeatedly voted against backyard chicken special permits prior to that, said he still can’t support the keeping of farm animals in densely-packed suburban and urban areas.

“I believe that chickens are farm animals that should be raised on a farm, and I don’t think that they belong in our city,” he said, noting that he wouldn’t want his neighbors to keep chickens close to his home. “I don’t think there is any reason for someone to be raising chickens in that manner in my neighborhood.”

Spears, who tentatively voted for the pilot program, said he just couldn’t support a permanent ordinance, echoing some of Lyons’ comments.

More discussion about backyard chickens is possible

• Councilmember Logan Heley, who said he’d support an ordinance without any lot-size restrictions, said he’d support future discussions about backyard chickens
• “Even passing this does not put in stone forever these regulations,” Heley said. “If there’s modifications that we need to make for health, safety, nuisance or otherwise, we have every authority to make those updates as we go along.”
• Additionally, some lots in annexed areas of Overland Park but haven’t been rezoned are still subject to more stringent chicken rules carried over from the county’s zoning regulations.
• During a recent Overland Park City Council Public Safety Committee meeting, councilmembers signaled an interest in codifying changes to the carryover county rural zoning rules that would make it easier to have chickens on such properties.

More Johnson County chicken news: Leawood considers becoming latest Johnson County city to allow backyard chickens