County’s draft ordinance aims to reign in source of rural noise complaints: roosters.

Public meetings are generally staid affairs. March 15, 2011 was a departure from the norm: One North County resident used part of her three-minute comment period to play a recording of a rooster crowing.

Through the microphone, it was excruciatingly loud and obnoxious – exactly the point she and a couple dozen other rural residents were trying to make. They say their neighbors’ noisy roosters are ruining their quality of life.

Prunedale resident Paul Brownfield says his neighbor tried soundproofing his home to block the racket from neighboring roosters, but he eventually gave up and moved away. Another friend keeps the radio or TV on all the time to help drown out the noise.

“People think a rooster wakes up in the morning, but they can crow 24 hours a day,” Brownfield says.

He’s been lucky, he says – there’s no chronic crowing at his Echo Valley place right now, but that could change if a neighbor decides to raise roosters.

For years, Brownfield has been asking County Supervisor Lou Calcagno, whose district includes North County, for action to rein in roosters. Three and a half years after the supes voted to move forward with a rooster ordinance, there’s a finally a draft on the table.

Planning Director Mike Novo says his department hit a dead end – the issue was more about animal control and noise than zoning. So he handed the task off to the Health Department.

Environmental Health Bureau Director John Ramirez presented the draft ordinance to the county Animal Control Program Advisory Board Oct. 9.

Under current county policy, a household can keep up to 499 roosters. The proposed ordinance would require an inspection and permit for more than five. Inspectors will check for humane quarters, sanitation and evidence of cockfighting.

The animal control board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the ordinance. On Oct. 23 it heads to the Ag Advisory Committee, where there’s likely to be some opposition.

Donald Barger keeps 10 roosters with an iridescent greenish sheen to their black tail feathers and stately, dark breast plumage. He’s been taking Old English Game Bantams on a competitive show circuit across the nation for 30 years, and he also organizes Monterey County Fair’s 4-H show.

Although the ordinance specifically identifies hobbyists and 4-H members as legit, instead targeting criminal cockfighting rings, Barger sees the draft as intrusive. “Prunedale should be the place where people are safe to have their animals,” he says. “Cockfighting is against the law already. I really don’t believe people should be mandating how many animals you can have, as long as they are well taken care of.”

Besides, he adds, even one vocal rooster can be enough to keep a neighbor up at night, depending on acoustics.

Barger is dismayed fees aren’t spelled out in the draft. Per county rules, fees can’t be set until after an ordinance is approved. Ramirez says it’s likely inspectors will charge a rate of $135 per hour at first, but they can’t predict how much time they’ll spend inspecting rooster houses. “It’s unknown how many are out there,” he says.

Barger estimates there might be hundreds of legit rooster breeders in the county. “[Inspectors] are going to be overwhelmed,” he says.