WEATHERFORD, Texas --Tuesday night proved to be a good one for urban chicken lovers in Weatherford.
Only a month after the city council voted down an urban chicken ordinance, the council suddenly changed course by a narrow three to two margin to now allow backyard chickens within city limits.
"It's chickens, yes, but a government should be able to sit down as grown adults and have a conversation," said councilman Kevin Cleveland.
The local business owner is a longtime advocate for backyard chickens. "A lot of people didn't know it wasn't allowed," he said. "It never stopped. It was just always something people would mention."
As WFAA first reported in August, some urban chicken diehards in Parker County were eagerly awaiting a vote by the council to approve chickens on residential lots in the city.
But the council vote failed.
That's when Anita McNutt took to her growing Facebook page to rally support for a petition to legalize the urban chicken concept. "I'm the chicken lady now. Seriously, I don't have a name," she said with a laugh on Tuesday.
Dressed head to toe in a chicken outfit, McNutt braved the heat to gather some signatures outside of city hall.
She's still pushing ahead with the petition because she thinks the compromise ordinance approved on Tuesday is too restrictive for some small homeowners in the city. "I put my big girl pants on and I'm ready to fight," she said.
The language in the passed ordinance only allows for four hens on residential properties of an acre or less. No roosters are allowed on lots of that size. All pens, coops or hutches must also be at least 25 feet from an owner's property line.
The coops are required to be in someone's backyard.