Cary's rules ruffle feathers

Chicken lovers push to lift town's ban on backyard coops

CARY -- Why did the chicken cross the road?

Because Cary told it to scram.

That's a growing joke in urban poultry circles. Long stereotyped for its rule-happy sameness, Cary refuses to allow backyard chicken coops. Too noisy. Too smelly. Too ... well, un-Cary.

But the town's defiance has stirred a grass-roots chicken push; its supporters hope to bust Cary's reputation as a snooty killjoy.

Check out the new Web site carychickens.com, or the poultry fans flocking on Facebook, the popular Internet social hub.

They point to Raleigh, where chicken coops are common enough that in some neighborhoods you can pass three on a single block, and where the annual Tour d'Coop draws a curious crowd.

Wake Forest just relaxed its poultry rules -- letting homeowners keep up to 10 hens -- and Durham is pondering the fresh-egg benefits of city chickens.

Cary, like the farmer in the dell's cheese, stands alone.

"They don't want to be seen as rednecks," coop hopeful Michael Manfre said. "I don't see how that association works, because cities like New York, they also allow chickens."

In July, Manfre and his wife, Alissa, laid out their chicken plan for the council.

The rules: No roosters. No slaughtering. Permits required.

The perks: Tastier eggs. Locally grown food. Pets that eat bugs.

But the idea died when the council voted down a motion to study the possibility. Cary does allow poultry in its scarce agricultural zones, but council members backed firmly away from putting birds in neighborhood yards.

"Everywhere I went, I had people begging me not to let this happen," council member Don Frantz said. "Noise, smell, disease, property values. It's not an urban thing. It's best left to the country."

As to Cary's image, and whether the chicken ban adds to its renown for regulation, Frantz shrugged.

"I guess that's part of the reason we win so many national awards," he said.

Chicken supporters in the Triangle and nationwide say most of the fears are misguided.

Having a few chickens in the backyard isn't any noisier or messier than keeping a pet dog, fans say. Roosters are a different story, but they aren't asking Cary for anything that crows.

"I'm not a morning person," Manfre said. "I don't want to hear them, either."

Most towns require coops that keep hens from wandering, and any owner will tell you that a coop needs constant cleaning.

Cary leaders warned that for every law-abiding chicken keeper, you'd see two scofflaws. But in Raleigh, longtime chicken owners say they are vigilant.

"All of us are sensible, so they don't crack down," said Bev Norwood in the Five Points neighborhood. "We had our chickens for months, and the people whose bedroom window is 20 feet away didn't even know we had chickens."

Manfre said it is ironic that Cary would hold up its award-winning status when defending the no-chicken stance.

The town recently ranked 16th on Money magazine's list of best small cities. Nearly every place that ranked higher -- including Fort Collins, Colo., and Round Rock, Texas -- permits poultry.

Cary's council might not fret about how that looks to outsiders, but some residents do.

"A friend from Raleigh told me that Raleigh permits chickens but that Cary does not, and then he poked fun at our town, saying that Cary is full of dumb rules like banning chickens," Cary resident Mark Lindblad wrote Mayor Harold Weinbrecht in July. "I like living in Cary, but this is the sort of regulation that really bothers me and does smell of elitism."

All the clucking in Cary has exposed a secret. There are some chickens in the town's neighborhoods after all. Their owners just don't advertise it, keeping their eggs under wraps.

Meanwhile, Manfre hopes Cary will give chickens another chance. On the council, Frantz says he wouldn't rule out another airing for urban birds, but his mind is firmly set against allowing them.

It makes one wonder about the chance for compromise -- a possible merging of the regularity the homeowners-association crowd seeks with the freedom chicken lovers so desire.

Perhaps Cary would allow chicken coops that were all beige.