By Scott Sullivan
Writer
Chickens Sunshine, Sugar, Cinnamon, Butter, Butter, Piper and Isabella still have Douglas homes thanks to owner Kathy Sarkisian’s lawsuit, then settlement with agreement from the city.
The Douglas chicken movement took wing May 18, 2017 when 18 petitioners called for Douglas to allow backyard chickens and similar fowl.
“Allowing residents to keep a limited number of backyard chickens would be a socially and environmentally responsible move,” Ronna, Lucy and Olive Alexander wrote the city eight days later.
Supporters noted cities across the country — including Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Traverse City, Grand Haven and Holland in Michigan alone — have begun allowing backyard chickens because of their “numerous benefits.”
“These include laying fresh eggs, contributing to compost piles, eating bugs, aerating soil, eating kitchen fruit and vegetable waste, reducing landfill usage and life’s overall carbon footprint,” The Alexanders’ letter said.
“Properly cared for and cleaned up after, they would make less noise and smell than most dogs,” wrote the women.
The petition noted in addition:
- Backyard hens provide an opportunity to teach children where food comes from and demonstrate responsible pet ownership.
- When properly raised, chickens can be wonderfully affectionate and entertaining pets.
- Fresh, naturally-raised eggs have a a better nutrient profile than conventional eggs.
- Chickens produce a rich fertilizer byproduct, high in nitrogen, eliminating the need for petrochemical fertilizers and great for use in compost bins.
- Chickens eat bugs, including ticks, Japanese beetles and flies, reducing our backyard pest populations and allowing for reduced use of pesticides.
- Chickens eat table scraps, reducing municipal solid waste.
- A properly-cleaned maintained coop poses no sanitation needs.
Douglas duly amended its animal ordinance Jan. 15, 2018, to allow keeping up to six backyard hens in a single-family residentially-property. But roosters, turkeys, peacocks and other fowl still were banned.
Yardbirds were allowed for personal use only; i.e. as pets, to lay eggs or provide meat for personal consumption.
They had to be contained in fully-enclosed coops or fenced-in pens detached from the home and set back at least 23 feet from neighbor lots, at all times. No offensive odors could emanate more than 10 feet from a coop or pen.
Douglas would allow as many as five backyard chicken permits what city council called a “pilot program” to see how well backyard chickens fly.
Few neighbor feathers were ruffled the first four years. In 2020 Douglas tweaked its new law to allow up to six birds per permit.
The rub: “If any neighbor objects for any reason whatsoever within 21 days of a property owner submitting a chicken permit application, the city is flatly prohibited from issuing a chicken permit, which shall not be granted, with no right of appeal.”
In 2023 Sarkisian, thinking it would be “wonderful to have egg-laying birds as friends and company, applied. On July 21 that year, then zoning administrator Joseph Blair marked “approved” on her application, so she set about building a coop and pen — also known as a “chicken run.”
“I told my May Street neighbors what I planned to do and they were supportive,” Sarkisian told The Commercial Record.
Complaint 1
Except at least one: Debbi Larsen, who wrote council and this paper post-settlement March 16:
“These issues and all that followed began over 2 years ago when Kathy S/ came to my door asking me to sign a paper saying she could have chickens. I had no idea about any of this so I said no I wouldn’t sign anything,” Larsen testified.
“The next day, I received a letter from the city telling me about the chickens and I had 21 days to oppose them, which I did. She started building her coop anyway. She said she got approved to build it, but she did NOT!
“I realize she won the lawsuit against the city, and they must change the ordinance so neighbors can’t oppose the chickens,” her neighbor went on.
But “We have lived in our home 26 years, 10 years longer than Kathy S/ has been in her mother’s home, and I’m sorry, but we have rights too. We smell and hear the chickens when we sit on our back porch in the summer; her home is on a small city lot in the middle of Douglas!
“I ask each of you to think if your neighbor put up a coop next to your house, how would you feel? We don’t live on acres, we live on small lots.
“Kathy also has feral cats which come in my yard and poop and kill my birds, but that has been going on for years and nothing can be done with that either.”
Council March 16 acknowledged Larsen’s letter but declined to read its full text aloud, then accepted the second and last reading of the revised 5-page amendment by unanimous roll call vote.
The deal was done.
Uncooped
Seems violation notices started popping up on Sarkisian’s door and pen in October 2023 warning her she was in violation of city law and subject to fines of up to $300 a day it went unabated.
“No way I could afford that,” she told The Commercial Record. “Someone told me about the pro-bono Pacific Legal Foundation, so I reached out to them.”
PLF’s website, which boasts “Suing the government since 1973,” says the 501c3 nonprofit, which accepts no government funding, is “a national public interest law firm that defends Americans from government overreach and abuse. We sue the government when it violates your constitutional rights — and we win.”
Complaint 2
On May 27, 2025 the high-profile PLF on behalf of Sarkisian sued The City of the Village of Douglas, claiming plaintiff, already granted a permit, saw the city revoke “because of a neighbor’s complaint.”
In the process, it violated her 14th Amendment right protections “against arbitrary and irrational exercises of governmental power that interfere with property rights and personal liberties.
“In reliance on the City’s issuance of a chicken permit,” the complaint reads, “Kathy (first name used throughout) spent approximately $18,000 constructing the coop and run.” Ditto “roughly $5,000 improving her perimeter fences, so no one could see her chickens from the street,” it went on.
“She purchased six young hens (or “pullets)” at her local feed store. All six (Butter, Sugar, Cinnamon et.al.) are with her to this day.
“Kathy doesn’t keep roosters (the ordinance defines ‘chickens’ to “not include roosters,’ nor does Kathy want any),” it explains.
“Kathy’s coop and run are well-designed and regularly cleaned. Her chickens are quiet, odorless and free from disease. There has been no increase in the presence of other animals on account of the birds,” her plea reads.
“Under Kathy’s care, the chicks have grown into healthy laying hens, and the birds now lay five to six eggs per day. She has raised six hens essentially from birth and has bonded with the birds as pets — in the same way another person would bond with a cat or dog.
“The fresh eggs they lay daily are a staple of Kathy’s diet and a key ingredient in the food she serves her husband and mom.” So her plea went.
“Kathy lives in Douglas in a house built by her grandparents. The property is roughly 14,000 square feet and zoned R-3, which allows typical residential uses including accessory uses by right, PLF wrote.
“In 2009, Kathy moved to the property to care for her elderly parents, who then resided in the home. In 2022, Kathy and her husband Sam bought the property from Kathy’s mom.
“Kathy and Sam now own the property in fee simple absolute and live there full-time. Kathy’s 94-year-old mom still lives at the property part-time.”
Hatch
PLF’s lawsuit starts in Latin: Gallus gallus domesticus — better known as chickens — and their eggs are healthy, sustainable and locally-sourced nutrition. Americans have raised chickens at home for centuries, and with rapidly rising prices and growing food safety concerns, many do today …
“The City told Kathy she must stop raising chickens, and that she is barred from contesting the neighbor’s decision. The City is also imposing daily fines, which continue to mount, and could exceed $200,000 — placing Kathy in jeopardy of losing her home as well as her chickens.”
Douglas has shuffled ZA’s since Blair, Sean Homyen holding that post now. It brought in attorney Charles Brogan to join him in what Sarkisian calls cordial negotiations with PLF to arrive at a settlement.
Coda
Was the lawsuit a flawsuit? Douglas responded in a letter signed off on by city manager Lisa Nocereli, Homyen, Mayor Cathy North and councilman/planning commission liaison Matt Balmer:
“Please see the city’s response below that has been approved by the attorney that handled the matter regarding the chicken ordinance/lawsuit:
“The City of the Village of Douglas,” wrote Brogan, “reached a resolution in the matter of Sarkisian v. City of the Village of Douglas, resulting in updates to the City’s existing chicken ordinance and bringing the case to a close.
“As part of the resolution, the city has adopted revisions to its ordinance that provide a clearer, more-structured process for residents seeking to keep chickens. The updated ordinance removes the previous ‘neighbor veto’ provision and instead establishes a review process based on objective criteria, including lot size, housing and containment plans and compliance with existing zoning requirements.
“Public input may still be submitted and considered as part of the application record; however, permits cannot be denied solely based on neighbor objections.
“The revised ordinance also introduces a formal appeal process, allowing applicants to seek review by the City Council if a permit is denied. Additionally, annual permit renewals will follow a simplified process, while still maintaining safeguards to address any potential nuisance concerns.
“As part of the settlement agreement, the City will issue a permit to the plaintiff under the updated ordinance framework. In return, the case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the matter is fully resolved and cannot be refiled on the same grounds.
“City officials view these updates as a positive step forward, ensuring that the ordinance is fair, transparent and consistent with legal standards, while still maintaining the City’s ability to address concerns related to health, safety and neighborhood compatibility.
“This resolution allows the city to move forward with a stronger ordinance that is both practical for residents and aligned with our broader regulatory framework,” the city attorney said.
Something to Crow About
“The government,” PLF lawyer Wesley Hottot said after, “cannot give private individuals, like your neighbors, the unreviewable authority to strip your rights from you as they please.”
Neighbor Saugatuck still is chickenless, despite resident Sevryn Nowicki lobbying city council Jan. 13, 2025 to adopt its own ordinance.
Kate Cotton, 11, chimed in June 9 that year asking city council to allow residents to keep chickens for six reasons:
“1. My family has a very big back yard and we have room for chickens.
“2. Having chickens would be helpful for parents with younger children to teach them responsibility.
“3. Douglas allows chickens.
“4. My school raises chicks and is looking for people to take them home.
“5. I know you are going to email me about the noise, so I have a proposal; you could make a rule: no roosters.
“6. People could have healthy breakfasts because their chickens are laying eggs.”
So far from council not a peep.
