‘There are places where some things don’t work’: Champaign Township holds meeting on ‘backyard barnyard’
CHAMPAIGN TOWNSHIP, Ill. (WCIA) — People in Champaign Township are saying their neighborhood is no place for farm animals. But nearly a dozen of them live in the backyard of a residential home.
Now, Norman Davis, the Champaign Township Supervisor, is getting involved. He wrote a letter to the family who complained after seeing WCIA’s story in April. On Thursday, the township held a special meeting to discuss what should and should not be allowed in a residential district.
“Right now, according to the county rules, you can have anything you want,” Davis said.
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“We believe that it’s our right to raise our own food, be able to raise a family and raise our food,” said animal owner Andrew Hopper. “And that’s all we’re trying to do.”
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Hopper and his girlfriend Alison Harper live in Champaign Township and so do their farm animals. They attended Thursday’s meeting to voice their opinion.
Neighbors, however, aren’t just concerned about the noises or the smells — it’s the animal types, space needed for them and the potential impact their waste could have on water.
“Pigs, geese, ducks and turkeys are not appropriate for a residential section,” Davis said.
The complaints started with roosters. Since WCIA’s first reporting on the backyard barnyard aired last month, the county was able to pass a rule change to make it illegal.
“I mean, for the last year, they’ve been legal and then all of a sudden they change, and it takes a little bit of time to make changes,” Hopper said.
The roosters are no longer there, but the other animals are.
“There was a unanimous decision by the board,” Davis said. “But as soon as they got rid of the roosters, they brought in the pigs.”
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The noises and smells prompted neighbor Eric Auth to ask for some changes to be made.
“We’re being assaulted by sights and smells and sounds,” he explained. “And this is not what an urban residential neighborhood is supposed to be like.”
Auth said he first went to Hopper about his complaints
“I suggested that they find an area and practice that to the heart’s delight,” Auth said. “But not in an area that has been and will continue to be an urban residential neighborhood.”
When that didn’t work, Auth went to his neighbors and then to officials. He said he’s sticking up for “neighborly decency.”
“I have signatures from every property in the subdivision, in fact, even one across the street,” he said. “I know this is a process. Government works at its own pace. We’re in a residential zone, so we expect residential conduct.”
“I mean, we’re trying,” Harper said. “We’re not trying to upset people. We’re just trying to raise our own food.”
The board said it could take up to a year for a decision to be a made on the issue in a way that animal owners are not grandfathered in. In the meantime, Davis is asking that all neighbors to be considerate and tolerant of each other.
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