CCP 11-12-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Approved they would like to keep the meetings under 2 hours. He stated the staff was available for any help and would facilitate the coordination of the meetings. He indicated staff would also reach out to other experts for their opinions. He noted this would not be a staff driven process,but rather a reflection of the group. He stated staff's role was to help the Task Force think through the process and provide support. Staff stated backyard farming definition was raising chicken, greenhouses, elevated(boxed) gardens, and bee keeping. He stated currently the City had no regulations regarding the keeping of fowl or backyard gardening. He noted they have had a couple of complaints each year and these complaints had been resolved in cooperation with the property owner. He stated this was a large public policy issue and it affected many people on a personal level including property and individual rights,nuisance issues,property values,watershed and runoff concerns,welfare issues, and land use issues. He indicated other regulatory approaches used by other Cities include the banning of roosters,limiting the number of chickens and other fowl, limit the types of chickens, screening requirements, setback requirements,feed having to be kept in rodent/predator proof containers, cleaning of coops and loft requirements including providing lighting and ventilation of the lofts,permits/licenses, approval of a certain number of neighbors,banning the sale of meat/animals,banning the slaughter of the animals on site. He noted regulations varied by the community. Staff presented the proposed work plan along with the topics and date of the meetings. He stated they would look at the regulatory piece and how Cities handled it at the first meeting as well as what regulatory powers the City had and the challenges they had with the regulatory issues. He stated the next meeting would be held on Thursday,November 21 and this would be the date to take the public comments. He stated they could set ground rules for this meeting and meeting management was key to that meeting. Staff noted in January staff will recap the previous meetings after taking December off. He indicated it was possible to bring in technical experts at this meeting, such as the City attorney as well as an expert on the urban farming issue as well as an expert who opposes this. At the February meeting,they would discuss the current regulations. The March meeting would be the final discussion on what the task force wanted to propose to the City Council. He noted this did not mean they could not have an open forum at the end or an additional meeting. He stated they did not want to drag this out,but they also did not want to force the issue. Chair Howard stated with respect to the dates,he hoped because they were getting these dates far enough out that the Members could get these on their schedule so they were able to attend the meetings. Staff noted the meetings did not have to be at 7:00 p.m. either if they wanted to change the starting time. It was the consensus to keep the meeting times at 7:00 p.m. Chair Howard noted there would be one meeting a month unless they decided to meet more often. A Task Force Member stated she did not know her schedule yet,but the January and February dates might be difficult for her schedule. Chair Howard stated it was important to have the November meeting definitely scheduled in order to give the public notice. He suggested keeping October 24 meeting and then review at that meeting the November meeting date. Chair Howard asked if the members had any suggestions or concerns regarding the topics and the order. A Task Force Member stated he was nervous talking about regulations at the next meeting. He asked what were the issues they are trying to regulate. He indicated it was important to know what the issues are and what they are trying to accomplish before they looked at regulations. Chair Howard said it would be up to staff to bring up the issues as well as by hearing public comment. He asked if staff should come back with the top ten issues. 3