By Andrea Arens

A three-year pilot program allowing residents to keep backyard chickens within village limits is set to come to an end after the Peotone Village Board declined to take action on an ordinance extending the measure’s sunset clause during its June 23 meeting.

The village originally adopted the ordinance in 2023, creating a license ($250) and building permit process for coop that allowed residents to keep up to six hens on residential properties. The regulations required chickens to be housed in enclosed coops and runs, surrounded by a 6 foot privacy fence, with coops connected to underground electrical service, a provision intended to create a safer, more permanent installation while reducing fire risks associated with temporary wiring.

The ordinance included a sunset provision scheduled to expire on June 30, 2026, unless extended by the board.

Village Administrator Nick Palmer presented a proposed ordinance that would have extended the sunset date for another three years, through June 30, 2029.

“As many of you know, in 2023 the village approved Ordinance 23-01, which allowed and regulated the keeping of chickens,” Palmer said. “The proposed ordinance change would extend the new sunset to June 30, 2029. It maintains the sunset and all other provisions of the ordinance.”

Palmer noted the village currently has only one licensed chicken owner and said the program has generated few issues.

“We’ve not had any complaints about that,” Palmer said. “There’s not a rush of people coming in and getting them either.”

However, when Mayor Chris Vieaux asked for a motion to approve the extension, none was offered by board members. Without a motion, the item died without discussion or a vote.

Palmer reminded trustees of the consequences of inaction.

“Failure to act today, or if we were to bring it back, means that this will sunset, and anybody who has a license, when it expires, they will not be able to renew it,” he said.

The lack of action marked a shift from discussion at a previous meeting, when trustees Nick Strba and Todd Sandberg had expressed interest in extending the ordinance. Strba was absent from the June 23 meeting, and no motion was offered by Sandberg or the remaining trustees Patrick Bowden or Gary Hudson. Trustees Jackie Richards and Julie Sluis were also absent.

As a result, the ordinance will expire as scheduled on June 30. Existing permit holders may continue operating under their current licenses until those permits expire, but renewals and new permits will no longer be available unless the board revisits the issue and adopts a new ordinance in the future.

The board’s meeting also included updates on upcoming Motor Fuel Tax road projects, sidewalk improvements, the village’s America 250 celebrations, and approval of a resolution opposing the proposed Illinois BUILD Act, which village officials said could reduce local zoning and land-use authority.

Andrea Arens is a freelance reporter.