OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Wednesday night a city committee focused on public safety will review a proposal to launch a pilot program allowing more residents of Overland Park, Kansas, to have backyard chickens.
Currently, residents must live on three or more acres to have chickens without a special use permit. Most special use permit requests are denied.
The proposed pilot program would allow chickens on properties as small as a quarter of an acre. Residents would need to obtain a special animal permit, which is much easier to receive than a special use permit. The city would create a sliding scale for the number of chickens a resident could have based on the size of their property.
The proposal calls for keeping the pilot program in place for two years at which point the city’s staff would reevaluate its effectiveness.
City leaders have discussed changes to their backyard chicken rules since August 2020, most recently with the Community Development Committee addressing the topic in the summer of 2021.
Wednesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Overland Park City Hall, located at 8500 Santa Fe Drive.
The City Council and planning commission would both have to approve the proposal after the Public Safety Committee’s review before it could take effect.
