08-20-2012 Planning Commission Packet

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1 � :T . Roosters August 15,2012 Page 3 cases also banned or limited the number of chickens at a property. Some cities have esta.blished ' a licensing or permit requirement for the keeping of chickens. It appears common that many cities have allowed chickens in just their rural-density(agriculture or farming) districts, and/or required minimum lot sizes in order to keep chickens. City Attorney Soren Mattick has provided a sample ordinance from one of the southern Twin Cities communities (Exhibit C of work session packet materials). This is not necessarily a suggested ordinance, but is just an example of what one other city has adopted. Soren's admonition to us is that we should avoid an ordinance that hinges approval of chickens and/or roosters on a neighbor's approval. He also notes that a ban on roosters enacted within the Animals section of the Code (Chapter 62)will not be subject to a grandfathering of existing roosters; whereas grandfathering is a risk if such a ban is added to the zoning code. Staff has not taken an inventory of roosters throughout the City and at this point does not intend to do so. We believe the number of properties with roosters is relatively minimal, and the number of properties housing roosters that have gei�erated complaints is extremely minimal (perhaps two in the past 10 years). While there may be a number of properties in Orono that keep chickens without roosters, any neighborhood concerns generated by them have been and are expected to continue to be addressed and resolved through existing ordinances. Staff fmds no value in attempting to establish a licensing or permitting program for chickens or roosters at this time. Finally, staff would refer to the Purpose section of the Orono zoning code, in which the first Guiding Principle reads as follows: (1) The city is growing in population from a rural agricultural community to a rural residential communiry. Use of land for residential purposes is considered primary with other uses viewed as supporting this use. While present commercial or industrial activity, where consistent with residential use and other guiding � principles, will be protected by ordinance or conditional use permit, it is not the intention to expand or allow all such commercial or industrial activity to a degree where it conflicts with the primary residential use and the other guiding principles. The continued use of land for farming and similar purposes will be protected by ordinance or conditional use permit where sufficient acreage allows such use to continue without conflict with expanding residential use. It is this potential conflict between the historic rural agricultural use and new residential use that plagues every suburban fringe community. Orono has chosen to accommodate agricultural and `�» farming uses to the extent that they don't conflict with the Rural Residential character for which a majority of Orono's land is guided and zoned. On 40-plus acre lots, one would likely expect that a rooster crowing in the distance is part of the normal ambience; on 2-acre and 5-acre lots which characterize Orono's rural area, a rooster crowing next door can be a real annoyance.