Owensboro, KY HOA Rules: CC&R Enforcement (2026)

Section 4-6 sits inside Chapter 4, Article I, added by the same 2025 ordinance (Ord. No. 15-2025, § 3) that created the city's six-hen chicken allowance in § 4-5. It states that nothing in § 4-5 stops a property owner or association from establishing new, or enforcing existing, private restrictions, including deed restrictions, restrictive covenants, or declarations of covenants and restrictions governing property use within subdivisions, and that those restrictions may continue to be enforced by private action of the property owners. That means the city's Property Maintenance Code Enforcement Officer, who administers § 4-5 under § 5-137, has no role in policing a subdivision's private chicken ban; an affected homeowner would need to sue neighbors or the HOA directly, or rely on the association's own enforcement tools such as fines or liens, to stop a coop that violates a recorded covenant.

Because the text is written narrowly around § 4-5, it does not create a general city policy on HOA covenant enforcement for other subjects like fences, paint colors, or short-term rentals; those disputes stand or fall under ordinary Kentucky civil law and the recorded covenant instrument itself, not under this chapter. A resident who wants to keep chickens in Owensboro should check their subdivision's recorded restrictions in addition to obtaining the $25 chicken permit from the Department of Public Works, since satisfying the city ordinance does not excuse a violation of a private covenant.