Sneak Peek of the Week

Chickens now allowed within city limits

The City of Lathrop will now allow residents to keep chickens within city limits. 

The Lathrop City Council voted Tuesday, April 21, to allow residents to keep as many as six hens on their property, but not roosters.

The allowance of hens comes with several regulations to ensure they don’t become a nuisance. In order to keep chickens, the owner must be on a detached, single-family lot that’s at least 6,000 square-feet. The chickens must not be at large and coops must be kept clean. 

No breeding or slaughtering is allowed. The chickens have to be kept at least 10 feet away from property lines and can’t be within 50 feet of neighboring dwellings (occupied homes, businesses, churches, etc.). 

Lathrop City Administrator Bob Burns said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the council allowed the use of letters for residents to voice either their support or opposition to the proposed change. He said that a similar proposal for the allowance of chickens failed in 2016. He added that in the more recent consideration, the city reached out to similar cities to see how they handled the chicken issue, and they were essentially split between allowing and disallowing them. 

​The council also discussed a wholesale water rate increase coming from the City of Kansas City, Lathrop’s water provider. The rate increase from Kansas City is two percent, but the council declined to react with a similar increase to the rate for Lathrop customers.