2015.02.03 WS Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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The task force did not meet in February; the meeting was cancelled because of the weather The March task force meeting included a presentation by staff on the challenges with the current City Code. The current City Code has no specific regulations regarding chickens, fowl, or other backyard farming related activities. Staff also presented a matrix with 4 options for each topic related to urban farming (matrix included in the March packet). This meeting marked the beginning of the discussion on the type of recommendation the task force would form for Council. The list of topics included all of the ideas and issues from the October task force brainstorming session, the public comments at the November public forum, and the written comments received by the task force. There were additional topics, exotic animals for example, that the task force felt should be handled by other groups or because of time constraints couldn't be reviewed by the task force. For each topic or issue there were four options the task force could choose; status quo, regulation, prohibition, and encourage best practices. Status quo meant no change in current policy, regulation meant some type of regulation may be needed, prohibit meant a ban on the activity or practices, and encourage best practice meant the City would provide access to relevant articles and resources related to the topic or activity. Additional discussion on these topics can be found in the recommendations section. The April task force meeting focused on three issues the task force felt needed the most discussion to determine a recommendation. Those issues were CSAs, bees, and chickens. After continued discussion the task force agreed the selling of produce/CSAs should be kept as status quo as there didn't seem to be evidence of prevalent problems or concerns. The chicken & fowl discussion focused on the impacts of this activity from a public health, nuisance, and aesthetics perspective. Staff outlined policy options for coops, runs, pens, birds, and roosters. Staff also introduced a matrix outlining the number of fowl a homeowner could be allowed to keep based on the size of their lot. The task force agreed on coop requirements and welfare issues for birds. The task force was unable to reach a consensus on the number of fowl, roosters, and slaughtering of birds. These issues would continue to be discussed at the next meeting. Staff policy options and the draft fowl matrix are included in the April packet staff report. The May task force meeting continued the discussion on the chicken and fowl matrix, roosters, aesthetics of coops and runs, and slaughtering. The task force ultimately decided on recommendations for each. Task force members reached consensus on a slightly tweaked chicken/fowl matrix with higher numbers than was originally introduced by staff. A copy of the matrix was included in the May packet. The task force also recommended, by a slight majority, to treat roosters similar to how the City currently deals with barking dogs and recommended keeping slaughtering as status quo. For further information on the discussion and the specifics on the number of fowl permitted matrix, please see the May packet. RECOMMENDATION A great deal of discussion went into the final recommendation which is outlined in the proceeding paragraphs. Based on this discussion the following recommendations are being forwarded to Council for consideration.