to Chicken Amendment

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – The New Rochelle City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday night against an amendment to allow chickens on residential properties.

New Rochelle sisters Sophie and Emma Peister composed a letter to Mayor Noam Bramson asking for permission to have three hens as a way to eat healthier eggs after they heard the eggs they’ve been purchasing come from poorly treated chickens.

“At some point maybe the city will carry it,” said Bramson. “Chickens will have to wait.”

Council members Louis Trangucci of District 1, Albert Tarantino of District 2, Ivar Hyden of District 4 and Barry Fertel of District 5 voted against the amendment, which would have allowed households to have no more than six birds on their properties.

Bramson and Council members Jared Rice and Shari Rackman, who represent New Rochelle District 3 and 6 respectively, voted in favor of adopting the amendment.  Current city code does not permit New Rochelle residents to have chickens.

“I don’t think it’s going to create havoc,” said Rackman in support of the change.

Fertel said he opposed the amendment because he thought other residents might protest the idea.

“I think they can come forth with other things,” Fertel said of arguments that some New Rochelle neighbors may have about the revision.

Still, Fertel and other council members, including Hyden, agreed with the Peister sisters in their feeling that natural eggs are a more health-conscious choice than consuming those from a grocery store. 

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