At the April 9 Peterson council meeting, Mayor Chris Stenzel brought up the city’s chicken ordinance and indicated he’d been contacted by residents about what’s defined in the ordinance.
“I’ve had some people contact me about the word chicken and they wondered if we could amend it to the word poultry instead because some of them would like to have maybe a pair of ducks or turkeys or geese,” offered Stenzel. “The word poultry… it says: “Domestic fowl raised for food, meat, eggs, or broth.”
“I just wanted to bring it to your attention and look at our policy for chickens and changing the word,” he added.
Councilor Gail Boyum suggested the council review the ordinance and determine why they chose just the word chicken. The city currently allows up to 10 chickens per household, with permitting, which are good until canceled. No roosters are allowed within commercial or residential districts. Coop restrictions are also in place, requiring them to be 25 feet from any dwelling on a premises and comply with zoning code for accessory structures. All chickens must be fenced in and feed and manure secure.
“I doubt there’s any reason why we just did chickens,” she said. “I don’t know if other towns are expanding it. I think it’s a cool idea, but I want to make sure,” said Boyum. “If we have pairs of geese and ducks, we’ll have a male and a female and what problem does that cause?”
“Just like with geese, a lot of noise,” said Councilor Tracy Seelbinder. “Chickens or ducks without the drakes or roosters, I don’t think there’s going to be that much noise going on.”
Boyum noted she’d be in favor of ducks without drakes, but that the city should carefully consider geese and should draw the line at turkeys.
“I think you’re going too far. I’d like to ask Dan Book about turkeys. He knows their behaviors,” she said. Book was a game warden with the Department of Natural Resources.
“I think we need to put this in the newspaper and let people call if they are concerned about that. I’d like to contact other towns and see if they’ve dealt with this, rather than starting to start this and then say, ‘whoops,’” continued Boyum.
The council tabled the discussion until the May 14 meeting.
In other news, the council unanimously approved issuance of a conditional use permit for 322 Mill Street to be used for residential use. There was no public comment at the public hearing held previously, and the Planning Commission recommended the action after reviewing the permit request and zoning code.
The council also approved continuation of electrical upgrades made to the city campground sites. The current setup doesn’t support the 50 amp service required by most of today’s larger recreational vehicles. The city already updated three of the sites as a test and will now proceed with upgrading the other sites. The total cost is $15,000. The funding will come from the Campground Fund. Additionally, the pedestals for the water hookups were moved back to make more room for camper slide-outs.
The city website will also see updating.
“We went through the website and there are a lot of things that need updating. We haven’t made changes in years,” noted Boyum.
The council approved hiring SMG Web Design at a rate of $600 annually. Friends of Peterson offered to pay $200 of that cost. Any changes needed during the year will be included in the cost. The contract will run through April 1, 2026.
Public Works employee Chris Grindland provided the council with an update. Both he and new Public Works Director Jeff Rein are operators on the city’s wastewater plant permitting. This concludes the city’s contract with former director Rick Lee, as of March 31. Lee served the city in the head role until his retirement in December 2022. Since then, the city has utilized his water and sewer license services on a contracted basis.
Grindland noted Lee’s time at the plant and training Rein into the new role were much appreciated. Lee will still assist the city on-call at an hourly rate.
During Public Works discussion, Stenzel asked Grindland about the proposed plans for bridge replacement at the city’s main entrance of Mill Street and Highway 16. According to Grindland, the county is planning the replacement for 2026. The direction of the bridge is tentatively expected to change with the east end shifting to the southeast, towards the DNR canoe launch. This will impact the new city sign and landscaping that’s been put in place the last few years. Grindland indicated he assumed the county will remove and reinstall the sign and landscaping.
The county discussed the plans with Grindland April 9 while doing survey work. He added that from what he heard, they will not reroute traffic, using the old bridge for access. Grindland also noted that they briefly referenced state of Minnesota funds and the deficit the state is facing. He indicated this could push the project back, but there aren’t currently plans to do so.
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