Mayville Mulling Making Chickens Legal In City Limits

(Mayville) Mayville is looking into changing city ordinance to allow residents to house poultry within city limits. Current law prohibits citizen from keeping chickens, fowls or any type of livestock such as horses, cattle, sheep and goats in the city outside of agricultural districts.  Public Safety Chairperson Bob Smith says public interest is driving the discussion to change the ordinance. Smith says before anything is adopted the city will look at any and all options. He says a potential change in the ordinance could see citizens being able to house chickens, ducks and turkeys with a quantity that is still to be determined. A citizen in attendance at the Public Safety Committee meeting Monday night asked to have honeybees included in the ordinance change. Smith encourages residents to reach out to their representative if they have an opinion or a suggestion. He says a public hearing will be held sometime in the future. The Public Safety Committee will discuss the matter further during next month’s meeting.