Ypsilanti Citizen News Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant

Ypsi DDA to vote on ending interim director's contract
By Christine Laughren
Feb. 5, 2010   ·   3:12 p.m.

Pictured, Interim DDA Director Jennifer Coe. The DDA's executive director search committee cited Coe’s $75 per-hour salary, which works out to approximately $1,200 a week, as reason for the termination of the contract.

Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority’s Ad Hoc Executive Director Search Committee will recommend the DDA hold off on re-posting for the director position...read more

Ypsilanti hires new city planner
By Christine Laughren
Feb. 5, 2010   ·   1:42 p.m.

Teresa Gillotti, Ypsilanti’s Michigan State University Extension planner, will replace City Planner Richard Murphy Feb. 15 as he takes a new job with the Michigan Suburbs Alliance.

The City of Ypsilanti will have a new city planner beginning Feb. 15.

Teresa Gillotti, Ypsilanti’s Michigan State University Extension planner, will replace...read more

City investigating alleged nepotism with police chief
By Dan DuChene
Feb. 3, 2010   ·   1:29 a.m.

Ypsilanti Police Chief Amy Walker

Updated: 10:33 a.m. ---------- The city of Ypsilanti is investigating an alleged relationship between the police department's newly appointed chief and a road...read more

Beal presents long-term plan for Thompson Block
By Christine Laughren
Feb. 3, 2010   ·   12:54 a.m.

Stewart Beal, owner of Ypsilanti's Thompson Building, said he hopes to renovate 408 N. River to accommodate a bar/restaurant as part of a 10-month, two-phase plan presented to City Council Tuesday evening.

The owner of Ypsilanti’s Thompson Building presented a two-part plan to fully open the roads surrounding the burned building at 400 N. River St., as well as renovate...read more

Female body found near 220 Pearl Street
By Christine Laughren
Jan. 31, 2010   ·   5:26 p.m.

Ypsilanti police parked in the N. Adams parking lot while wrapping up an investigation for a body found near the AATA Transit Center this afternoon. An overdose is suspected and an autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

Updated Sunday, Jan. 31 7:24 p.m.

A City of Ypsilanti resident was found deceased at approximately 2 p.m. today in the parking lot near the Ann Arbor Transportation...read more

New definition for ‘city chicken’

File photo - This Ypsilanti chicken's photo was taken on resident Peter Thomason's farm last summer. Now, city residents can apply to own up to four hens in the city. Photo by Christine Laughren

File photo - This Ypsilanti chicken's photo was taken on resident Peter Thomason's farm last summer. Now, city residents can apply to own up to four hens in the city.
Dr. Kimberly A. Rice DDS

Permit ordinance approved on second reading

By Dan DuChene
Jul. 22, 2009    ·    4:39 a.m.


Urban farming hopefuls will now have the chance to own up to four chickens in the city of Ypsilanti.

City Council unanimously passed an ordinance establishing a permit process to keep the animals Tuesday night. Mayor Pro-tem Trudy Swanson, D-Ward 1, and Councilmember Michael Bodary, D-Ward 2 were absent from the meeting.

Both Swanson and Bodary had opposed the measure on its first reading earlier this month. Councilmember Lois Richardson, D-Ward 1, had as well, but she reversed her decision Tuesday.

The ordinance, which was amended, allows city residents to apply for a permit to keep four hens in a coop in their back yard. The principal use of the permit must be for one or two-family units. It does not allow for the keeping of roosters, and does not permit slaughtering on property.

Councilmember Peter Murdock, D-Ward 3, proposed the amendment that was unanimously passed. The amendment stipulates that the chickens must be kept in a structure at least 20 feet from a neighboring dwelling, unless the neighbor provides written consent.

Additionally, the amendment removed the $10 fee, which will likely be put on the city’s existing fee structure, allowing City Council the ability to change the fee without having to post another ordinance.

Finally, Tuesday night’s amendment sets permits to expire in two years, with the option for renewal. However, the ordinance sunsets in one year, requiring City Council the revisit the issue in 2010. Previously, the ordinance would have sunset after a year, but existing permits would have been grandfathered in indefinitely.

Five audience members, including an Ann Arbor resident, spoke in favor of the ordinance. Four audience members, including former mayor Cheryl Farmer, spoke out against it.

Several Council members said they had been overwhelmed by residents’ input after the City Council meeting earlier this month.

“I’ve gotten more calls on hens than on any other issue we’ve faced,” Richardson said.

Councilmember Bill Nickels, D-Ward 2, said he was able to categorize the arguments he had received against adopting the ordinance into four areas. He said those categories include the potential impact on ordinance enforcement, diseases, attracting predators and what he called the “Peter Thomason syndrome.”

Thomason, an Ypsilanti resident, has been involved in a lawsuit with the city after he began keeping dozens of chickens and rabbits, as well as several goats, on his property. At the meeting, he said it was a separate issue, as he is attempting to operate an actual farm inside the city.

Nickels said chickens would likely have little impact on ordinance enforcement, which was Farmer’s main argument, as ordinance enforcers have to maintain the city’s current ban on chickens now. He said if people were interesting in breaking city ordinances as Thomason has, they could have already done so, at the expense of fees and other penalties.

From his research, Nickels said the diseases chickens carry are similar to those that are carried by other birds that live in the city. He said the attraction of predators would be curtailed the requirement of a chicken coop.

At the end of the meeting, Ypsilanti resident Kenneth Harrison expressed his “disappointment” with City Council for their adoption of ordinance, especially his representation on City Council. He said Richardson had “flip-flopped” on the issue.

Harrison hinted at a recall effort for those City Council members who voted to support the ordinance.

Related story:
Urban chickens in Ypsilanti



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