Skyline High Teams, Athletes Successful Seasons and Performances Acknowledged – Oh, and Those Roosters

The Tuesday, March 17 regular meeting of the Warren County Board of Supervisors opened with a recognition of Skyline High School athletic teams and members’ accomplishments of this past season. Unlike much of the rest of the meeting, the general public reception was positive and united. Throughout much of the coming discussion of proposed board actions, there were many conflicting opinions and perspectives. Those actions included various zoning and permitting decisions, pending budgetary funding decisions, and the potential impact of those latter decisions on the county tax rate.

And to give those young Skyline Hawk athletes a break from the politics and political rhetoric characteristic of municipal, or any other level, of electoral politics and decision-making, we will give them a pictorial acknowledgement of the meeting’s post-closed-session kick-off.

A series of introductory shots of Skyline High Hawk teams and athletes, and a final shot of those teams, their coaches, and supporters leaving at the conclusion of their opening contributions to the county board meeting. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

On the political decision-making front, perhaps the lead action was a 3-2 denial of the proposed ordinance that would allow the possession of roosters with chickens on one-acre lots in Residential One (R-1) districts. That denial, after extended discussion and citizen Public Comments, came on a motion to deny by Vice-Chairman Tony Carter, seconded by Hugh Henry, and was joined in “yes” by Board Chairman Cheryl Cullers. The dissenting votes were from John Stanmeyer and Richard Jamieson.

The full board near the outset of the regular open meeting of the WC supervisors. While not seated with his colleagues, Fork District Supervisor Hugh Henry is standing at the far right discussing a technical matter with Board Deputy Clerk Zach Henderson.

About those roosters

Prior to that vote, there was much discussion about planning staff input, or the lack thereof, due to a number of recent Planning Department personnel losses. The option of continuing to table action pending a positive change in the circumstances of planning department vacancies, which has limited feedback thus far, was suggested by proponents of the rezoning.

But, based on the information available, though still somewhat disputed in spots, the board majority decided that a decision had been put off long enough.

One argumentative point was that the rezoning could expand community members’ exposure to a rural, agricultural way of life, particularly its youth. However, on the other hand, it was noted that zoning distinctions were created to help citizens know exactly what kind of neighborhood they were deciding to move into. And in an R-1 District, one would not expect neighboring homeowners within an acre or less to be engaged in farming activities that might disrupt an anticipated, more municipal, suburban, or urban residential lifestyle.

And opponents of the rezoning argued that roosters and their dawn, pre-dawn, or pending threat of crowing would be just such an unanticipated lifestyle challenge in R-1 neighborhoods.

Town zoning debate

One issue was the zoning allowance for roosters within the Town of Front Royal’s Warren County limits. While several supporters of the zoning amendment pointed to a lack of complaints, eight were cited over an extended period. However, Carter, who made the motion to deny, countered that the Town did not allow roosters with chicken pens inside the town limits. Consequently, it was natural that no complaints would be lodged about something the town government didn’t allow.

Royal Examiner checked with the Front Royal Planning Department on the Town’s zoning allowances regarding roosters with chickens. In the absence of the office of Planning Director Lauren Kopishke, we called on March 18 and spoke with Code Enforcement Officer and Property Maintenance Official Daniel Wells. Wells confirmed that the Town does NOT allow roosters inside the town at this time. He dated the most recent ordinance on the matter to November 23, 2015.

He added that while the ordinance is currently under review to be “cleaned up,” as he put it, it was not anticipated that any revision would alter the status to allow roosters in town Residential neighborhoods.

“Mr. Carter was right,” Wells said when we mentioned we were doing research on the issue being argued at last night’s Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting.

We will end this review of last night’s county supervisors meeting here. A review of other actions taken on March 17 will be forthcoming in a related Royal Examiner story.

But while you’re awaiting that follow-up, below is a portion of the staff report in the meeting agenda packet on the status of the Rooster Zoning Ordinance request through the County Planning Commission portion of the process:

“PLANNING COMMISSION STATUS:

“The Planning Commission held a public hearing for this item on Wednesday, December 10th, 2025. On a motion made by Mr. Kersjes, seconded by Mr. Barnhart, the Planning Commission forwarded the proposed amendments to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation of denial on a vote of 4-0 (Mrs. Miller abstained).

“Each Planning Commissioner had concerns regarding allowing roosters in the Residential-One (R-1) zoning district, and with the probable increase in enforcement the proposed ordinance would generate. Among the concerns of the Planning Commissioners were the following: roosters would generate excessive noise in high-density residential subdivisions, with a rooster in the flock propagation would get out of hand with the flock doubling every 21 days, it is impossible to tell if a chick is a rooster for several weeks and the owner would frequently have multiple roosters as a result, the sound insulation requirement offers no standards, any sound insulation would harm the flock and cause illness, roosters belong on farms and farming does not belong in the Residential-One (R-1) zoning district, and it does not make sense to allow for roosters while continuing to restrict other poultry such as guinea fowl, turkeys, and ducks which are less of a nuisance to neighborhoods than roosters …”

Watch the Warren County Board of Supervisors Meeting of March 17, 2025