01/22/2013 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Tuesday,January 22,2013 6:30 o'clock p.m. On a 2.0 acre lot(via a CUP in LR districts and simply as an allowed accessory use in RR districts)one can have a cow, or a steer,or a donkey,or a burro, or three sheep,or fifty fowl,or some undefined number of other farm animals. The Zoning Code definition of"Animal unit"in its assignment of"number of animals per animal unit" does not address all the animals listed in the Zoning Code definition of"farm animals." The definition of farm animals means cattle,horses,mules, sheep,goats,llamas, alpacas, swine,ponies, ducks,geese, turkeys, chickens, guinea hens and honeybees. Curtis noted the City does not have in the Code a standard for how many pygmy goats or pot-bellied pigs or llamas or alpacas or ostriches or emus comprise an animal unit even though most of those animals have been in Orono at one time or another. Staff's fall-back administrative position has been to use MN Department of Agriculture standards for animal units based typically on comparing animal weight and manure production,but this does not necessarily address the many other reasons the City may want to limit the numbers of a certain animal species. In addition,MDA standards would often result in many more animals per animal unit than Orono Code allows. The existing code sections related to chickens are as follows: 1. Chickens are"farm animals"by definition. 2. The code does not distinguish between chickens(hens)and roosters;they are all defined as "fowl." 3. Fowl are allowed in the 2-acre and 5-acre Rural Residential districts as an accessory use. 4. Fowl are allowed in e Lakeshore Residential%2-acre, 1-acre, and 2-acre districts and in the RS district as a conditional use. 5. The number of fowl allowed is based on the size of the property. The minimum acreage for farm ani.mals is at least one acre for the dwelling and one additional acre for each animal unit. 6. One animal unit is equivalent to 50 fowl under Orono code. Therefore, a 2-acre lot would be allowed 50 fowl,a 3-acre lot would be allowed 100 fowl, etc. 7. Structures for housing of animals,including fowl,must be 75 feet from neighboring lot lines and 150 feet from neighboring residence structures. The issue of urban chickens has become a hot topic in recent years among cities in the metro area. City ordinances on the topic of chickens are quite varied. Brooklyn Park has recently denied its residents from having chickens. Orono has not faced with requests for or complaints about chickens in our more urban areas. Staff suggests that our review concentrate on the basic topic of appropriate numbers in the more rural areas where animals are allowed in Orono. Staff is not prepared to recommend a specific number of chickens that should be allowed per acre or for a given lot size or pasture acreage at this time. Staff is also not prepared to recommend a specific revision to the number of chickens that comprise an animal unit. In order to help establish a new standard for how Page 10 of 18