CHARLESTON — A South Charleston woman filed a petition after the city denied her request to raise chickens.
Susan Casdorph filed the petition on June 16 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
In her petition, she argued that the restrictions imposed by the ordinance are arbitrary and unreasonable and do not bear a substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, or the general welfare of the municipality.
Casdorph said in the petition that South Charleston has an ordinance that governs keeping chickens within city limits and allows residents to do so provided they first obtain a permit from the property board.
In 2016, Casdorph filed her first petition. She never received a written response to that petition, and, instead, received a phone call from B.L. Rinehart telling her the permit was denied because "the Mayor doesn't really like chickens," the petition states.
On Dec. 6, 2022, Casdorph filed another application to keep chickens. She included 31 pages with eight exhibits, along with both of her neighbors' written consent. She then presented her application before the property board Rinehart sent her denial in writing in January.
Casdorph argued the property board's decision was not based upon the sufficiency of her application and, instead, it was apparent that the property board decided that it didn't want to issue any permits for the keeping of chickens.
Casdorph is seeking the judge to find that the ordinance is invalid and unconstitutional. She wants the city to grant the permit. She is represented by Paul L. Frampton of Atkinson & Frampton in Charleston.
Casdorph told The West Virginia Record in February that she spent an hour discussing her plans before the board, but that they had no intention of ever issuing a permit. She said one of the board members even said that if they ever were to issue one for chickens, it would likely be to her.
"It's frustrating," Casdorph said to The West Virginia Record in February. "We started a Facebook group for the community to ask questions and talk about this — South Charleston WV Urban Farmers. Out of the almost 200 members since we started it last month there has only been one person who said they didn't really want chickens in the city."
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 23-C-244