The April Victory
In April, the Rapid City City Council voted to allow urban hen keeping, and the Sentinel was there to walk you through what that meant — six hens, no roosters, backyard only, coop 25 feet from neighboring homes. A win for residents who fought hard for it.
What most people don’t know is what comes next.
The Hidden Catch in Ordinance 6723
On June 25, the Rapid City Planning Commission takes up Ordinance 6723, a proposed amendment to the city’s zoning code that would permanently embed your chicken permission into Title 17 — but with a critical condition attached. Under the proposed language, keeping hens is permitted “in accordance with Title 6” of the Rapid City Municipal Code.
Title 6 is the Animal Control code. And what’s in there is more than most chicken owners realize.
What the Code Actually Requires
Here’s what Title 6 explicitly mandates:
- You must obtain a domestic chicken license from the Finance Officer before your hens set foot in your yard. There is an application fee.
- That license expires every January 31 and must be renewed in December.
- Two nuisance violation convictions within twelve months and your license is void.
- A conviction on any animal cruelty charge voids your license immediately.
- Your coop must be fully enclosed, windproof, and meet specific ventilation requirements — one square foot of window per 15 square feet of floor space.
- Droppings must be collected daily and stored in a fireproof covered container until removed from the property.
- Chickens must be secured in their enclosure from sunset to sunrise.
The Zoning Trap: From Ticket to Property Lien
If Ordinance 6723 passes — first reading at City Council on July 6, second reading July 20 — these Animal Control requirements become zoning requirements. That’s a different category of consequence.
Here is the difference: an animal control violation is an incident, but a zoning violation is a compounding liability.
Under Title 6, a loose bird or a noise complaint usually results in a standard one-time citation. But under Title 17 zoning laws, every single day an uncorrected violation exists—such as a coop that lacks the exact 1:15 window ratio—constitutes a new and separate offense, carrying a potential fine of up to $500 a day.
Lose your chicken license under Animal Control, and you just lose your birds. Rack up compounding daily fines under zoning code, and the city can eventually attach those penalties as a lien against your house.
What’s Next
The council voted 6-4 to give Rapid City its chickens. That vote stood. But the compliance framework that came with it is buried in a part of the municipal code most residents will never think to read.
The Rapid City Sentinel will continue following Ordinance 6723 through its City Council readings on July 6 and July 20.
(The Rapid City Sentinel covered the original Urban Hen ordinance in April. Those pieces are linked below.)
The Lost Art of the Break OR Why You Should Probably Just Get Backyard Chickens
Backyard Hens Can Roost in Rapid City – Ordinance 5714 Passes
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