Love you a bushel and a peck: Monongahela couple found each other in fight to keep chickens
Courtesy of Michelle Parnell
Michelle Parnell and Chad DeSantis
Courtesy of Michelle Parnell
Chad DeSantis and Michelle Parnell
“It’s kinda strange,” Michelle Parnell admitted of how she and her partner, Chad DeSantis, fell in love.
“Chad and I met when the city of Monongahela sent me a letter to get rid of my chickens.”
In early 2016, Parnell said she received the letter and took to Facebook to cry “fowl” about the issue. That’s how she found DeSantis, who was already active in local government. He knew how the city council worked, and more importantly, in this instance, how to work up an ordinance.
So Parnell had one request for DeSantis: “Help me keep my chickens.”
“We started our journey together fighting city hall to keep her chickens,” DeSantis said. “Had you told me six years ago that any of this was going to happen, I would have told you you were out of your mind.”
This fight was right up DeSantis’ alley, whereas Parnell was learning along the way. She didn’t realize it would be such a lengthy process, with multiple readings, zoning hearings and the like. Parnell estimated it took almost a year from start to finish.
DeSantis said the original ordinance prohibited agricultural operations that would gross $10,000 a year. By his calculation, that amount of profit would require over 150 chickens. The current zoning amendment, adopted Aug. 10, 2016, allows for no more than six hens within the residential district, as long as interested owners pay a $550 fee for a public hearing to verify their neighbors are on board with the nearby feathered friends.
“It made me realize how much grip local government can have on living your own life on your own property,” Parnell said of the process. “One person can make a difference in the community.”
But after the two worked around the “cluck,” the ordinance passed and the chickens saved, Parnell and DeSantis still had each other.
“We just kind of got used to having each other around,” she said.
Almost four years later, the couple lives together happily with Parnell’s two sons, ages 5 and 11, and six hens.
“We saved the chickens, and long story short, her, me and the chickens live happily ever after,” DeSantis said.
Parnell admitted when she first got that official letter, she was going to say her piece respectfully and comply with the city’s decision, even if that meant getting rid of the chickens. But her neighbors enjoyed the birds, and Parnell said they were not bothering anyone.
She said DeSantis printed the city’s entire code of ordinances, getting into the granular details. It was not in his nature to give in quietly.
“I had to grow some pretty thick skin pretty quickly,” Parnell said, adding DeSantis taught her to roll with the punches, but to also stand up and defend herself and what she believes in.
DeSantis also credits Parnell for some of his growth, too. He has been sober from alcohol since March 15, 2016, and is proud Parnell and the two boys have never seen him with a drink. She has given him a reason to be a better person, he said.
“I credit her for a lot of my strength. We are absolutely better together,” DeSantis said. “Together, we’re going to change the world.”
DeSantis said some in the city know him as a thorn in the backside, to put it politely. He ran a write-in mayoral campaign for mayor in 2015 and is active in local government.
But he’s proud to be known to ruffle feathers both at home and in the city.