04-21-2025 - Agenda Packet Planning Commission - Packet

Home Browse Search

Animals Discussion 21 April 2025 Page 2 of 3 Keeping of Animals as a Residential or Commercial Use During the review of LA24-000066, the Planning Commission discussed whether or not the breeding, raising, and training of pigeons should be considered a hobby or a commercial endeavor. Chapter 62 outlines the licensing requirements for dogs; places limitations on the number of dogs or cats permitted on a residential property; and defines and regulates kennels (commercial and residential). The terminology used and regulations within this Chapter are inconsistent. Only commercial kennels for dogs is contemplated, and kennel licenses are required for commercial and residential kennels. Farm animals, as addressed within the Zoning chapter, are to be kept for noncommercial purposes. Staff identified inconsistences between certain terms within the City Code. As noted above, the definition of animals within Chapter 62 specifically excludes cats and dogs; however, Article 3 (beginning with Section 62-101) entitled “Dogs and Cats” appears to be a standalone article on dogs, interchanging the terms dogs and animals. Animal Units – Defining the Number of Animals Allowed The Zoning code uses the term animal unit to define how many of a specified farm animal can be kept on a property. The term “animal unit” used in the City’s Zoning regulations is based loosely on the State regulations (MN §116.06 and MN Rule 7020.0300) which define an Animal Unit by the weight of the animal and the amount of waste it produces (using a specific multiplication factor to adjust for different animals). According to the State, an animal unit is a “unit of measure used to compare differences in the production of animal manure that employs as a standard the amount of manure produced on a regular basis by a slaughter steer or heifer for an animal feedlot or manure storage area calculated by multiplying the number of animals of each type…” (see Exhibit B for the State’s full animal unit list). The current definition of “animal unit” does not contemplate every animal. Should the list of animals be expanded? There should be a clear standard in the Code to identify how many “animals” are permitted on a specific property. This number could be defined by the property’s size, the zoning district, and/or the type of animal, or another standard yet to be considered. Research of Other Cities Staff reviewed several other cities for animal regulations, and have highlighted five (5) communities in Minnesota to focus in on for the discussion of Orono’s Animals Chapter. Of note, regulations regarding animals are addressed by city codes opposed to zoning codes. The definitions of animals vary, but most of the researched cities approach a simplistic definition like Bloomington; “ANIMAL. Every non-human species of animal, including domestic, farm and wild”, but others like Excelsior, do not have a blanket definition of animals, and instead define domestic, farm and nondomestic animals individually. Some noteworthy regulations that can be found within the five (5) animal codes: • Champlin, Rochester, and Willmar all provide regulations for pigeons. • Bloomington and Champlin provide a number of animal definitions by genus and/or species. • Like Orono, Excelsior provides a broad definition of permitted domesticated animals. • Bloomington and Rochester define wild animals Champlin define prohibited animals, and Excelsior defines non-domestic animals as a prohibitive measure. • Willmar provides a definition of animals with a list of exclusions that regulate allowed animals. • Bloomington’s chapter also refers to domestic animals as pets. 152