Chickens. (Credit: E. Gregory/Flickr.com/Creative Commons)
Talks started in 2017, tabled in '23 on local rules
A resident query could bring back a topic that has ruffled feathers across the region.
“I know there was an ordinance or law about chickens being allowed to be raised on private property within Towamencin, and we were looking to do that a while ago,” said resident Jim Needhammer.
“Now that we have these extremely high egg prices, I was wondering if there was any chance that this law was going to get moved along or passed so that we can have chickens in Towamencin,” he said.
Township officials first held talks about whether to allow residents to keep chickens on their properties back in 2017, after a resident requested the board consider modifying local codes to do so. Similar talks were held in nearby Lansdale and North Wales Boroughs at the time, and Towamencin ultimately took no action to change the township’s rules that all but prohibit chickens, leading the supervisors to send the topic to the planning commission in 2021.
Since that first round of talks, nearby Montgomery Township voted in 2022 to allow them, after a resident input survey conducted the year before at the prompting of a resident group, and in 2023 then-Towamencin supervisor Laura Smith said their planning commission had discussed versions of the code, with criteria including lot size, setback distances, visibility, numbers of chickens allowed, and prohibitions on roosters.
Later that summer, an authorization to advertise an ordinance was on a supervisors’ meeting agenda, but it was tabled, and Smith said at the time “it just wasn’t right” and needed further revisions. No further talks were held by the supervisors on the chicken code before Smith triggered a firestorm of controversy with a viral TikTok video in January 2025, prompting her resignation in early February and subsequent sparring by the board on how to fill that seat.
After fielding the query from the resident, supervisor Kofi Osei said he’s the board liaison to the township’s planning commission and recalled no recent talks.
“I think it’s, quote unquote, ‘finished,’ but I think Laura had problems with the way it was written, and it kinda got tabled indefinitely. I don’t know if they want to recommend what they have now or revisit it?” he said.
Township Manager David Kraynik added that it was tabled due to a specific concern.
“The lot size was not reduced to what some people, like one of the former supervisors, wanted in terms of allowing chickens. But we can certainly put it back on the agenda for the planning commission,” he said.
Board Chairman Chuck Wilson said recent headlines about the cost of eggs may make the topic worth revisiting: “Given the current situation with eggs, maybe they have some different thoughts now,” and code director Will Brugger said he’d put that topic on the agenda for the planning commission’s next meeting.
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on March 26, and the township planning commission next meets at 7 p.m. on April 7, both at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information, visit www.Towamencin.org.
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