The Bayonne City Council has finally enacted its farm animal ban, with an exception for homing pigeons.
At its November meeting, the council adopted the ordinance, after it was introduced in September. The ordinance was first introduced in July, and seemingly set to pass in August. However, one resident’s heartfelt plea was enough to cause the council to table the ordinance at its August meeting.
Resident John Baginski is an accountant who lives on West 15th Street and is also the last person in Bayonne to care for homing pigeons. Baginski is not banned from owning homing pigeons under the ordinance, and is grandfathered in.
At the public hearing, Baginski said that city ordinances already make it hard enough to get into the hobby of keeping homing pigeons and argued that they are not farm animals and should not be regulated as such.
After a passionate discussion with the council, a vote on the ordinance was postponed until September to alter the language to allow for the care of homing pigeons in certain instances.
After working with Baginski to rework the ordinance, the council postponed its proposed farm animal ban in September, contemplating an amendment to exclude homing pigeons under certain circumstances.
At the time, Law Director Jay Coffey said the council could opt to disregard the original ordinance and introduce an entirely new ordinance with the amendment to exclude homing pigeons built in, although with specific requirements.
The council opted to introduce a new ordinance. The ordinance prohibits the breeding, keeping, harboring, raising and or caring of farm animals within all zones including commercial and industrial property within the jurisdictional limits of the city.
Exceptions included for homing pigeon ownership
According to the ordinance, farm animals are defined as: chickens and roosters, ducks, geese, pheasants, turkeys, quail or other fowl, cows, goats, sheep, swine, horses, or cattle and such other animals as are typically raised on farms for domestic use.
The ordinance also prohibits the keeping, breeding and raising of all species and breeds of pigeons. The only exception is for homing pigeons owned by any resident who is an active member in good standing of any recognized New Jersey Pigeon Club.
Any resident breeding, keeping, harboring, raising and or caring for chickens and pigeons prior to the introduction of this ordinance and who has registered same with the Health Department will be exempt from this ordinance until the registered animals are no longer living. They must comply with the following past practices as they relate to chickens and pigeons, according to the ordinance.
The move follows two recurring problems in the city. In one instance, a rooster continues to wreak havoc by crowing at dawn in one neighborhood. In another instance, a chicken coop has become a local eyesore.
The city lacked an ordinance that bans owning roosters and or chickens, which can be irritating to residents. Many municipalities, even those which permits residents to have farm animals, often ban roosters.
The city also did not have an ordinance prohibiting the keeping of pigeons. Now the adopted ordinance aims to close the loophole and prohibit noisy roosters and the visually displeasing chicken coops, as well as pigeon ownership outside of certain cases.
At the November public hearing for the final reworked ordinance, Baginski thanked the council for making changes based on his recommendations.
“I’m the pigeon guy,” Baginski joked. “I just want to thank you for amending the ordinance to continue to allow us homing pigeons guys to continue to have pigeons in the city of Bayonne.”
Baginski said he could answer any questions about the ordinance if need be before the vote. However, the only question was from City Councilman At-Large Loyad Booker, who jokingly asked if he had brought Mike Tyson with him, a fellow pigeon owner that Baginski had shown a photo of him with at the public hearing on the ordinance in August.
Baginski said he hadn’t, before he replied joked to Booker, “I might.”
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