Animal Services has recently completed proposed changes to Chapter 4 of the City’s Code of Ordinances. The last update to this Chapter was passed in 2016 and changes in state law as well as Council directions necessitate revisions to the City’s Code of Ordinances. Additionally, the city’s Prosecutor’s Office assisted in editing the ordinances to clarify appeal language and eliminate loopholes that sometimes made enforcement difficult. Staff from Animal Services and the Legal Department have spent numerous hours writing and re-writing these proposed changes to ensure that they reflect the City’s attitude of being a progressive, humane community while still ensuring that all individual rights are protected.
This is not a major revision with regards to wording and there is actually little change in ordinance requirements for most residents. In fact, the average pet owner will face no more or less regulation than they do with the current ordinance. The principal changes are highlighted below but if a complete “strike-through” version is requested to illustrate every difference, one can be provided:
Section 4-1 – Adds definitions for chicken coop, exercise yard, nesting box, and roosting space for backyard chicken exemption and aligns culpable mental state definitions with state law.
Section 4-2(i) – Clarifies the time limit a City Enforcement Agent has to request a hearing after an animal is seized.
Section 4-26(a)(16) – Clarifies that available water must not be frozen and must be kept in a clean container that is suitable for the size, species, and number of animals being kept.
Section 4-26(a)(22) – Makes it an offense for an individual to allow the breeding of mosquitos and the growth of plant materials in any water container meant for pets.
Section 4-29(a)(4) – Sets minimum size requirements for animal housing enclosures meant for backyard chickens.
Section 4-81(a) – Aligns property definitions for pet limits with the Zoning ordinance.
Section 4-82(b) – Aligns permit revocation appeal period with other appeal periods in the ordinance.
Section 4-94(a) – Requires animals involved in Local Rabies Control Incidents to be microchipped at the owner’s expense.
Section 4-121(c) – Clarifies that Animal Establishments can only sell domestic animals and female chickens.
Section 4-123(a)(2) and Section 4-124(a)(3) – Clarifies temperature and ventilation levels must be kept at levels that are healthy for the species kept.
Section 4-151(a) – Clarifies who the parties are in a Dangerous Animal Complaint.
Section 4-153(e) – Aligns dangerous animal determination appeal periods with state law.
Section 4-153(o) – Requires animals that were at-large and involved in an incident that led to the filing of a Dangerous Animal Complaint to be microchipped at the owner’s expense whether it is deemed dangerous or not.
Section 4-157(c) – Ensures appeal bonds for Dangerous Animal orders are compliant with state law.
Section 4-185 – Provides minimum requirements for those seeking to be permitted to keep backyard hens on residential lots not zoned Agricultural.
A Resolution to set all Animal Services fees is also included in this clean up. These are needed due to the new backyard chicken permit. All current permit and registration fees set by the previous Resolution will remain the same with no increases.