2020.11.23 Council Agenda Item 5

The Community Development Committee (CDC) has recommended an ordinance amendment to Section 19-40 of the Code of Ordinances related to the keeping of animals in the RD and HL Zoning Districts.  The purpose of this amendment is to correct an administrative oversight from 2016 that inadvertently removed allowances for the keeping of animals in the areas of town now zoned RD and HL.  A prior version of this amendment was introduced at the 9/30/2020 Council meeting.  At that meeting, a councilor expressed some concern about (re)allowing animals in the HL District adjacent to Highland Lake in light of potential impacts to the lake’s water quality. 

On 10/8/2020, staff arranged a meeting with the Highland Lake Leadership Team’s Ordinance Sub-Committee (HLLT) to solicit HLLT’s perspective on the draft amendment.  HLLT indicated no concerns with the portion of the amendment that would restore the pre-2016 allowances for the keeping of animals in the RD District.  HLLT did, however, express some concern about the portion of the amendment that would have restored the pre-2016 allowances for the keeping of animals in the HL District.  Ultimately, HLLT indicated support for a two-phased approach for an ordinance amendment process as follows:

• Phase one – Immediately restore all pre-2016 allowances for the keeping of animals in the RD District as originally proposed at the 9/30/2020 meeting.  In the HL District, immediately restore only those allowances related to the keeping of poultry;
• Phase two – HLLT will convene meetings in the weeks and months ahead to develop recommendations for additional ordinance amendments that more broadly address the keeping of animals throughout the entire Highland Lake watershed with a focus on issues related to water quality.     

The CDC met on 10/19/2020 to review a revised amendment and the CDC supports moving forward with this two phase approach.  The current version of the proposed ordinance amendment now being considered reflects phase one of the approach described above.  This amendment was formally introduced at the 10/26/2020 Council meeting and is unchanged from the version introduced at the 9/30/2020 Council meeting except for the change made to the table under Section 19-40.b which includes a new column describing the limited allowances for just the keeping of poultry in the HL District. 

A link to the background materials for the 9/30/2020 Council meeting where this item was originally discussed, and where additional background context for this amendment can be found, is here: Item 7 - 9/30/20 Council meeting

Included with this agenda item are the following:

• An ordinance amendment introduction letter;
• The proposed ordinance amendment to Section 19-40;
• The Town’s Zoning Map.