ITEM TITLE:
Chickens in Residential Subdivisions Update Report
SUBMITTED BY: Lisa Von Bargen, CED Director
FISCAL NOTES:
Expenditure Required: N/A
Unencumbered Balance: N/A
Funding Source: N/A
RECOMMENDATION:
None. Report only.
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
The Commission held an initial public hearing on March 22, 2017 regarding chickens in residential subdivisions. The public hearing resulted in significant feedback, the majority of which was in support of allowing this use. Since the hearing the department has received one additional email objecting to proposed change.
Given the amount of positive feedback the staff is planning to bring a draft ordinance to the Commission. This will take a little time as it is more than just amending the zoning code. The Animal Control Officer (ACO) will be responsible for enforcement of the use. Therefore the Animal section of the Valdez Municipal Code will also need to be amended. The changes in the Animal section will be similar to that of a kennel. The zoning code allows kennels as a conditional use, but all the requirements and enforcement of said use is outlined within the Animal section because enforcement falls to the ACO.
The City Clerk is out of town this week. Upon her return the Clerk, Police Chief, ACO, Attorney, and Com Dev staff will be meeting to go over the proposed code language. As soon as an appropriate draft is ready it will be brought back to the Commission. Because this is a change to several zoning districts (now in official ordinance format) a new public notice will need to be sent to the same group as before of nearly 900 property owner. Please expect the public hearing on this item sometime in May.