Local Planning Agency - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everybody. I'm calling to order our meeting of the Local Planning Agency for May 14th, 2026. Welcome, everybody. Welcome. Suzay, the clerk, if you would call the roll, please.

Chair Peterson. Vice Chair Ouellette? Here. Board Member Seymour? I'm sorry. Board Member Grosso?

Here.

Board Member Palmieri? Here. Board Member Scherer? And Board Member Vogel?

Here.

Thank you. If you would all stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, please. Thank you. Now, if I could get somebody to do a motion to approve the agenda.

I'll move to approve the agenda.

Second.

Thank you. And is there any comment on the motion? All in favor? Say it out loud. Aye. Okay, thank you very much. And... We will go on to request a motion to approve the minutes, please.

I move to approve the minutes.

Second.

All right. Sounds good. And I don't think I need to get. All in favor. All in favor, please.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

All right. Let's see. Do we have any comments from the public today?

I have none, Chair.

None. Seeing none, we will move on to comments by board members. Are there any comments by the board members today? All right. Hearing none, we will move on to the action items. Oh, let's see here. Resolutions. Are you going to be reading the resolution?

I can do that.

I would appreciate that. All right. Thank you.

Okay, the title is Backyard Chickens in Certain Residential Zoning Districts. And it's ordinance number 2552-2026, an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Stewart, Florida, amending the city's Land Development Code, Chapter 2, zoning districts uses allowed density, intensity, Section 2.06.00 Supplemental Use Standards to add a new Section 2.06.24 Backyard Chickens in Certain Residential Zoning Districts and to amend the City's Code of Ordinances Chapter 8 Animals. Article 1, in general, Section 8.2, livestock prohibited in the Stewart's Code of Ordinances by removing certain provisions related to allow backyard chickens in certain residential zoning districts, providing for the repeal of prior ordinances and resolutions, providing for codification, providing for severability, providing for an effective date, and for other purposes.

Thank you. Do I hear the presentation now or do I do the motion?

You can ask for the development director to go ahead and give a presentation on the ordinance.

Please give us a presentation. Yes, thank you. Good evening board members and chair.

For the record, my name is Jody Coogler. I'm the development director with the city of Stewart. This item comes from you based on February 23rd, 2026. The city commission directed staff to prepare the necessary ordinance to allow backyard chickens within certain residential districts. The city commission recognizes a growing trend towards sustainable living practices, including the desire to incorporate fresher, locally sourced products into daily diets. Additionally, there is an increasing interest in providing residents with opportunities to engage in small scale backyard food production. Allowing a limited number of chickens on residential properties supports these objectives by enabling property owners to produce eggs for personal consumption. The proposed amendments would allow the keeping of up to four chickens as an accessory use on an occupied detached single family and duplex properties within the R1A. R1, R2, urban neighborhood, single family detached zoning districts within the East Stewart neighborhood. This would be subject to the terms and conditions outlined in the attached draft ordinance. This ordinance was presented to the Community Redevelopment Board last week, and they did vote to move the item forward with a couple conditions, and I can go over those if you would like to go through your ordinance. And I'm just gonna quickly run through those, or if you would like me to wait and just hear your comments, and I can provide those comments.

I would like to hear comments. Obviously, I don't think we have any comments from the public, but can I get comments from the board members?

I wanted to ask about the necessity of getting a permit versus just having it be allowed. And then if there's a code violation, somebody calls kind of a thing.

So we did model off of other jurisdictions, and I know that a lot of jurisdictions do require a permit just because of cleanliness and nuisance abatements. We do want to verify on a yearly basis to make sure that the chicken coops are maintained and also being maintained in the yard and then they're in good condition.

So the idea is the city would inspect yearly whoever has a permit and make sure they're doing it correctly?

That is correct.

At the city's option, though, not... Yeah, at the city's option.

So if we get a complaint and we don't have a permit, then they would be required to get a permit. It's just to make sure that the chickens are maintained and the property is maintained and also meets the requirements that it is an occupied unit or it's not a vacant land.

Okay.

Well... Are we going through... You're going through the whole thing or it's just understood that we read it and... Yes, I think you're not going to read through the whole thing.

Thank you. So in there, I just wanted to point out a couple of things that you're only allowed up to four hens. There will be no roosters allowed. So as we know, roosters can be noisy. So that's pretty much standard with other jurisdictions as well. At the Community Redevelopment Board, they did make a suggestion or made a recommendation to approve the ordinance with a few conditions to consider. On page four of your ordinance, they have considered where the location requirements for the chicken coops and enclosure, which is under section C. They made some recommendations to consider instead of a fence that you could have a hedge instead of having a fence. Also, they made a recommendation to make the chicken coops larger at seven feet tall for taller people. And then if you want to put a fence, to have a maximum of five feet. And that was some of the recommendations that the board had made.

I was just wondering, the enclosures, it says, shall be so constructed and maintained as to prevent rodents and other pests from being harbored underneath, within, or within the walls. But I am a little concerned about them being strong enough to resist coyotes, because they're everywhere now, and they love chickens. Do you think this will be strong enough to get the people to keep the chicken coop coyote-resistant?

Unfortunately, I cannot answer that. I mean, that is something that you always have to be aware of when you have backyard chickens. I do know there's cases where they didn't successfully survive, but, you know, there is other ways where some of the coops, instead of a, you can make those coops a little bit stronger. You can get those coops that, I know you can order them online where they are coyote proof. I have seen them before, too. But it's really going to be the owner's responsibility to make sure that they maintain their coops.

What is the permit process on the coop itself? Is it treated like a structure? They have to do full? They don't have to pull a building permit or anything like that.

No, it's just going to show.

Is it considered a movable structure? Is that why? Yes.

Yeah, it will be a movable structure. It will just show that you'll show the aspects of the coop. Typically, you'll probably purchase them. If you build them, then you're just going to show the height, the width, and the material that you're going to use, and then just show it on your land of where you're going to set it back.

So is it? That's similar to a prefab shed then is there any tie-down requirements on it, so it's not blowing into the neighbor's house during the hurricane

We don't have that, but if that's something that you would like to recommend, we can certainly do that. Like a shed, you would do the tie-downs. We could certainly add that language. It's really just you can purchase those at Home Depot, the tie-downs.

That's my one concern. My other concern is the setbacks to have it. five feet off the property lines, but then 25 feet from any residential structure. I guess my first question is, what counts as residential structure in that aspect of it? I assume pool doesn't qualify as that, but would a freestanding shed count as a residential structure?

So I see where you're coming from. I think that if you say the principal structure, that would define that, that would be the house.

It actually does say that they shall be, you know, built to keep away predators and weather. So I think that might include the coyotes.

Yeah, I don't know. I guess one of my issues with it is the setbacks of it. If five feet off your property line can make it a nuisance to your neighbor, if it were to be a further setback off of the property line, then you can possibly eliminate the double setback of five foot and then 25 foot from a structure. Because, for example, let's say I went to the trouble of putting this in, and then my neighbor didn't like it, so then they just built a structure five feet off their property line, and then now I can no longer have my chicken coop. but it does say 25 feet away from their house right but i'm saying you could go ahead all the trouble put it put a you know chickens in your yard and the neighbor goes and builds something and then now you no longer can't have it so i would recommend just a larger setback in general and keep it simple where it's not one property line setback and one structure setback i think that bridge could be crossed if we came to it or something and i would If it was me, I'd include swimming pool in the setback or outdoor covered structure.

Your concern is that, is what?

I've experienced it. I've been to a client's house in the city of Stewart, actually, and I was standing in their backyard, and I was like, what is that smell? And they're like, my neighbor has chickens right on the other side of the fence right there. I know a lot of people will, but unfortunately there's a lot of people that won't.

And you think that like five feet will make it not smell?

If it's 15 or 20, then it becomes their nuisance and not their neighbor's nuisance. Okay. So that's where my attitude is on it.

I personally don't think we're going to be overrun with people getting chickens personally. I think that, in my opinion, it's those people that want to get them, you know, won't be the whole city, but you never know.

I was surprised that there's less in here. There's like a maximum size for the coop, but to what you're saying, as somebody who's kept chickens, there's no minimum per chicken. That can get really gross when people start to have way too many chickens.

But it says a maximum of four chickens. So if you have like a little tiny, I mean. So you're saying they might build a smaller coop.

So I, my neighbor in Golden Gate kept like six, five or six chickens under their grill with the propane tank taken out. It was horrible. And it wasn't for eggs. It was for cockfighting.

That's not humane.

Right. And so I'm just surprised that there's not stuff in here about like, if you're going to force people to go to the city and get a permit, like shouldn't there also be. Some kind of like, and here's the right way to take care of your chicken. You've got to clean it. I don't know how cities do this, but if we're going to have people get a permit, shouldn't it also be about keeping it clean?

It sounds like the city will get involved if there's a complaint of some sort.

So, along those lines, I had two main concerns with the mechanics of this. And to your point about coyotes and foxes, and I looked statistically, it hasn't been too many years since there was a bear sighting right on Monterey Road, which is fine. This language allows for securing the chicken coop from predators. That is still not going to stop predators from coming around. there's going to be an impact to the neighbors when they used to walk Rover or let him out in the backyard and now there's a fox there or a coyote or raccoons. Snakes love chicken eggs. It's going to attract things. And so, Typically, the reason for the livestock ordinance originally is because there's more density in the city and they don't want to deal with those things. I'm a proponent of the chickens, but I also think there should be language that considers the impact and the cost to the city of dealing with that as far as animal control or calls for coyotes, whatever. because they're gonna come around, even if they don't get the chickens, it's gonna attract animals like that.

Can I address that particular concern?

Well, okay.

I'm just gonna say, where I live, right behind me is a big parcel of city land that's vacant. And I have coyotes, no chickens, but coyotes in my yard every day. With all the development that we have, there's nowhere else for them to go. They're walking up and down the streets. I mean, every neighborhood I go in, I see coyotes. I don't think the chickens are necessarily, and I'm not opposed to putting that language in. I'm just saying they're out there.

This is what I anticipate a phone call like to the city. I walk my dog here every day and have never seen a coyote before, and now I've seen one three times in the last month. What are you going to do about it? And so I'm talking about an impact to the city now has to respond to that, and there's a cost to that. I'm wondering if rather than this being called a permit, if it should be a license that is renewed annually. And if in one area the density of chickens happens to be high, the city then can say, we're either raising the cost of the licenses to deal with all of the additional traffic and response that we have to have. or we're not issuing any more licenses in this spot because it happens to be that five people on this block have chickens and we have a huge activity of other wildlife that is attracted to the chickens. I'm just looking at what option do we give the city In other words, okay, you get your permit, you pay a one-time fee, it's over. The rest of the neighborhood has to absorb whatever happens. So if it's a license that has to be renewed with a fee annually, the city can adjust that cost. to deal with anything that may happen. And if nothing happens, the cost never gets adjusted. But if at some point, if they say animal control has had to respond to this and we're spending a lot of time and money dealing with all this, we wanna have chickens, all right, we gotta deal with what the chickens attract in this area and we can do that now. We've got some resources to do it, but the people with the chickens should kick in a little bit so that They deal with that. That's one concern that I have. The other one, to your point, I googled chicken coops and pens. You can get some bougie chicken coops. I mean, these things are beautiful and constructed and pre-constructed, and they're really cool. But the first thing I thought about, to your point, is we get a storm and that thing's going to blow into your neighbor's pool. So there's no language in here about does any of this, do any of existing code or building permits apply to the structure to anchor it, make sure it's anchored down. If it's big enough, it should be anchored to a wind code so that, again, the neighbors don't have a chicken coop flying into their yard when we get storm ABC. Those were my two things looking at this.

I don't, can I respond or should I? Absolutely. Okay. One thing I would say is like, you know, the city doesn't issue permits for like a compost, you know, and I feel like you can have a four by four compost full of rotting food that attracts rats and snakes and coyotes and raccoons and the city has nothing to say about it, right? We don't have to pay any money. Like, I definitely have one of these compost that has rats in it. And, you know, I don't think it's the city's, like, job to monitor and regulate this at the four hen level, you know? Like, it's not a farm.

I don't think so either. But my point is, what if on your street, six out of eight houses have a four chicken farm? And now there's other things. And so to have a dog, you absolutely in the city, you're supposed to have the dog license.

Yeah. Right.

And to have any other kind of animal that you would.

you know okay you're gonna use the chickens for eggs but you're still I feel like a license that's renewed annually gives the city the option to adjust for impact I have some concerns about that one is I don't you know there are very bougie chicken coops out there and and there are people who keep very bougie rare amazing chickens that yeah put out crazy colored eggs and I don't think we should construct this to be just for them. I have concerns that people have to get a permit at all from the city. It's four hens. I feel like it's a private property thing. I don't think it's our job. I'm not gonna... stop anything or vote against it if everybody else agrees that like yes we have to permit these things so in the event i also think it's like not real that there's the personal opinion i'd be interested in the data but like i don't think it's real that four four hens you know across six residences in a neighborhood is going to attract more coyotes

And it's not only coyotes. I have the raccoons. My backyard has snakes, which I love. I love the snakes. I don't mind the raccoons.

And I think when you permit your dog, it's because it could bite somebody and make them ill. And I don't know that that's true.

You don't permit your dog. You license it annually to make sure the shots are up to date and everything else. And that also, I've got to believe, goes towards the resources for animal control and that sort of... If someone has to call the city, if nobody's accountable for the impact, regardless of whether it's nil or a lot, and if it generates calls to the city to manage the situation, there's no account in here for that.

I'd be interested to know that.

But I have one question. Doesn't the county handle animal control? The city doesn't, does it?

Yeah, we've contracted with the county sheriff. Yeah, the county has animal control.

The county sheriff.

But there's still a cost. There's a cost to that. Right, right. And there's an impact to the neighbors. So in answering phone calls.

You're just thinking that might happen or you've actually...

Whether it may or may not, it should be a provision that is accounted for, or everybody's going to go, well, you know, there's nothing we can do. We voted this in, and the rest of you just have to deal with it. And believe me, I'm a proponent of the chickens, but I'm just saying there's no language in here that... that allows for that, and it could happen. Everywhere I've known that people had rabbits, it attracted every creature, and people got annoyed. I can't walk my dog, there's this, there's that, I'm afraid.

Well, are you suggesting like a minimal license fee to start that would go up if we needed it to? Absolutely. What's the fee right now? There's no fee right now.

That was going to be my other question to staff. Is there a blanket? Does this fall under a blanket?

So on an annual basis, we do a schedule of all fees and so forth, and so it would be adopted every year. And if it has to go up, it would go up. Right, Jody, is that?

That's what I'm in favor for, of the city being able to say, this is becoming a thing. We have to cover the cost. And if it's not a thing, it stays where it is.

Is that something, have you seen other cities that have had that kind of, like, impact? And so then there's, like, a response?

Well, and it also gives the city the option to say, in this spot, we're not granting any more licenses right now.

Which I think is not the city's job.

Could the permit be used the same way as a license, though? I mean, they won't give any more permits. Yeah. Not necessarily.

There's no expiration of the permit.

It can be taken away. My thing is we shouldn't be going into people's backyards unless their neighbors complain.

With a permit, there's no provision to cover costs later. With a license that's renewed annually, it gives the city the provision to cover any impact costs from chickens being around in a neighborhood now. Or not.

I just think if it was somebody who would take care of their hens very responsibly, I wouldn't contribute. I would dig in my coop so that... you know, coyotes can't get in, and like, I don't think I should have to cover the cost.

You could be the most responsible person in the world, but coyotes, even if they can't get in, they're coming over, sniffing around.

Well, so are like cats and snakes and coming to my compost, like I said, you know.

Okay, so.

Well, I have a question. What are we considering the permit fee to be right now? Do we have a number?

Right now we have a zoning fee which would be $65. 55? 65. By five, right? Six five, yes. Oh, six five, 65.

Yes, ma'am. Okay, so you would be more comfortable if we called that a license, not a permit?

I would and I'd like to see that fee be maybe the first time because there's an inspection. It's $55 and that covers the cost of somebody or whatever it is. And that covers the cost of city staff going out there and doing the inspection, working with the homeowner, dealing with that. And then after that, there's let's say there's an annual license fee of $25. What's it? What is it to have a dog now? I haven't had a dog.

It's $10.

Okay, so 1020 bucks a year annual license fee, and then it gives the city the provision to say. we're having a problem with this. We're constantly running people out to reinspect these, the neighbor complaints, everything else. We need to raise that fee to cover the costs of all that to $45 a license.

I'm kind of thinking like,

Caitlin says it's not going to be a huge issue but I also wonder if you can guarantee that do we have to like do we have to like imagine a problem and solve it in this situation or can we like you know adopt the resolution and if the city is having a hard time with it you come back and reprocess the concern is that something we can do let's say that it turns into a problem can the city make new rules

requiring licensing, requiring different things than we have in this right now?

Well, so to be honest with you, I drafted the ordinance and I don't know much about chickens, so I'm learning a lot from some of the comments you guys are making and you're bringing things to light that I didn't think of. So that's why we're going through this process and that's a good point. With cats and dogs, we do an annual license. when I reviewed all the other cities. Jody and I, what did we pull, about six or seven municipalities?

Yes, sir.

And we looked at what they had, and we didn't copy one particular one. We took bits and pieces that we thought would be relevant. But that's not a bad idea. But I think right now it is a permit. It's a one-time charge. And there are, like you mentioned, that there are some provisions if they violate, the permit will be taken away. I didn't think of an annual thing.

But is that something we could implement in the future?

Yeah, I mean, you do an amendment to the ordinance.

Okay.

And technically, we're amending the ordinance by adding this. And I don't know that I made it clear initially, but when you look at the draft, anything underlined is adding. And if it's crossed out, which nothing's crossed out, that would be, well, if you go to the very end in the ordinance, Nope, there's nothing crossed out. So everything, all we're doing is adding language to the text of the ordinances.

Right.

We're not deleting anything. So everything here would be adding, but in the future, if we felt the need that we needed to do a renewal on an annual basis, yeah, that could be amended to add something.

So this could be like a pilot program, see how it goes. And then if necessary, if all your concerns and fears come true, we could always amend it to then make it an annual license fee. Chair.

I think that's true, but I also think it's our job to be realistic about the possibilities of things to happen. And I think it's arguable that if you have chicken food or cat food or anything else left out anywhere and chickens and eggs in a spot, you're gonna attract that may not agree with your neighbor's cat or dog or anything like that. And we're to blanket approve this with no vision of the possible impact of that. I don't think we're doing our job.

All chicken feed shall be kept in a secure covered metal or

Well, they can't eat it in there. So you gotta put it on the ground for them to eat it.

We could also just say there could be a problem and so we're not allowing chickens, right? But we're trying to figure out how to allow chickens. 100%. I think adding extra regulation and extra inspections and extra staff time is not saving the city money.

Well, if the neighbor calls one time and the inspector has to go back out there, That's already probably cost the city $150.

I think that's exactly her point. Even if, you know, the person pays a license fee, it's costing the city money to regulate.

Which we have to do, I understand.

But there's no way, with a one-time permit, there's no way for the city to adjust to cover the cost. With a license fee, they can...

We just said that every year.

So they're going to come back here and... Okay.

I'm sorry.

I get what you're saying.

I think Jody has something to say.

If you could turn to page five of your ordinance, there is some ramifications that if a permit needs to be revoked or if there's costs in the violation, it does say that the city can... recoup the cost if there's any actions taken against the homeowner. There is provisions set in here that talks about that.

Oh, interesting.

So D and E does address, I do think it addresses your concerns. as far as a cost impact to the city. So typically today if we get a complaint about a chicken coop or chickens being on the property, and we've had complaints in the past, we do a code violation to the owner. At that time they had to remove it or they go to the magistrate. There's fees attached to that. There's time frames. And if they don't comply, then there's liens placed on properties. Hopefully by that time, we can get them to comply. But there is a ramification that talks about code action and cost recoup.

So my original point, I wasn't even talking about code violation. I was talking about attracting and the animal control impact of dealing with that. That was my first thing. When I think about chickens or anything like that, it's going to attract, it's been my experience my whole life here, it's going to attract other things. And there's no, there is no, no provision to allow for that, the cost of that impact for animal control resources or however that works in here. I don't see how you can have, even if it's four hens that can, if a critter can smell them, they're coming around. Even if it's secure and they can't get in. And what I'm saying, what I was originally saying was now you live next door, you've got your little puppy that you let out, you know, and now there's, there never was before, but now there's coyotes and, or something out there that's going to attack your rover or, or whatever. And I'd love the idea of the chickens, but that's kind of not fair to whoever has the dog and they're going to call the city to deal with it. And, and if that, I don't see how that can't happen it's going to escalate huge problem maybe not but i think that it should be a provision for the city to be able to collect annually or not if it's not a problem they never change the the price it doesn't go up but if it does if enough people in an area have chickens i don't see how you're not going to have

Do you live in the city?

Absolutely. Okay. I have my whole life.

No, no, you don't have to. I think you can just own property. Really? Wow, okay.

And I mean, a couple years ago, a block from where I grew up, there was a turkey walking down 10th Street. I couldn't believe it.

A wild turkey crossed my front yard. Yes, I have a video of it.

The creatures are here. We don't see them all the time, but I'm convinced they're here. I know there's foxes and coyotes, like you said, and I just... And everyday cats are getting...

Disappearing.

One of the guys that works with me had his cat killed by a coyote, and it was violent.

That's gruesome.

Yeah.

I mean, personally, I'm a proponent of not letting your cat outside, because I believe they kill songbirds, and they're endangering it. But I'm not coming to the city to be like, you have to get a permit for your cat. So it's kind of like, we live in a society.

Dogs also should be... in a fence or on a leash and coyotes are not as scary as you think i mean they do kill cats because cats run around and and get eaten by them but if a person is watching their dog or it's in his fence yard it should be okay i don't disagree i'm looking at it as it's a phone call to the city's office it's a response that the city has to make there's a cost to that

there's no way to cover that and i don't see how you can have chickens without there being some more for the city to have to manage and a one-time permit fee of 25 65 bucks i don't think is going to cover it and i think there should be a provision to do that i would like to know your opinion on

Because we seem to have sort of a...

I agree with your comments that most people that are wanting this are responsible, but there's also the responsible dog owner and then there's the irresponsible dog owner. Those are the ones I'm worried about. They're the ones that leave their dog chained in the backyard all day long, all night, barking, and that's going to, at least in the short term, I see that happening with this. People are going to see this and be like, oh, that's cool, let me get some chickens. Zero experience. You know it's not easy. I've never had them. I've asked a lot of people that do. It's actually kind of easy. You have to know what you're doing. You have to take care of it. You do have to take care of it. People might do it well for a few weeks, a few months, and then they get busy, and then now they're not cleaning up the manure. They're not keeping the feed in a proper container, and now you have smell concerns in the summer. You have more rodents. We already have enough rodent issues in the city of Stewart. I think the language in here accounts for that.

Yes, but I'm just wondering, how would you solve that problem?

that you're bringing up. I don't know if I cancel everything. I mean, I'm not 100% against the chickens, but I just see too many.

Do you feel the licensing fee would ameliorate that?

That's a code enforcement problem.

Right. No, no, but I'm asking him if the licensing fee. It might help.

It might help weed out the person that just shows up to a tractor supply and is like, oh, I'm going to have chickens today. You know, that might help weed some of the irresponsible people out if it's something a little bit more in-depth.

I'm actually thinking of people who are doing this for protein for their family in a food system that the food is getting very expensive, particularly people in our city who kept chickens from their country of origin or whatever it is. Creating the structure where like you have to pay all this money just to keep them like I just don't like that You know it's a very like it's a property rights thing.

I'm picturing everybody being a hundred percent responsible Yeah, and the chicken coops are secure and the feed is secure and everything else you are still going to attract wildlife That your neighbors may not want around that that's that's the part that if everybody's got the best of intentions that's the part that's not being accounted for and

But, I mean, my neighbors don't pick up their dog poop, you know, and I just kind of have to deal with that because I live in a city. I don't live in Montana on a, you know, 100-acre property. Like, you just kind of have to deal with people. I mean, there's things you can do. Like you said, people can call the city if they're not taking care, you know. Do we... Do you have to deal with the city to keep a beehive on your property here? I know you have to deal with the Department of Agriculture, I think.

There is a state statute that exempts for honeybees.

I didn't know if the city did or not.

We cannot. The state statute prohibits you from even licensing a honeybee.

Oh, interesting. And compost, the compost program with the city, you all partner with IFAS, the University of Florida. Did anybody talk to the University of Florida about backyard chickens and policy that's worked in other places?

So my previous position at St. Lucie County, I did write the chicken ordinance. And we did talk with IFAS. And they gave us some good information to hand out to the owners when we did the permitting, just some guidelines. And that's something that we can do as far as the education component of it, that we could actually give them that information. They do have programs where they do have backyard chickens Classes.

Classes, yeah.

So they teach you how to maintain a chicken coop, how long you should leave the light on because in chickens, you don't want to leave the light on all the time because they'll keep producing eggs. So they do teach you that, and that's something that we had already, if this moves forward in our department, we will have an education component so they can link in to IFAS, and there's other 4-H clubs that help them out as well. that might have some resources that we can provide.

I took the composting class and got my composter from the city. I think it would be really cool if you could take a chicken course with IFAS and then get a coupon to go to Tractor Supply and get a coop.

And some of the 4-H clubs offer a pilot program that actually the kids can gain their credits by assisting new families in how to maintain their chicken coops and how to feed them and take care of them.

Yeah, I mean, I teach gardening at the Boys and Girls Clubs, and I'm definitely thinking about programming around this.

Very cool. So from what I can tell, you're opposed to the license.

I'm okay with the license. It's fine. If everybody else agrees.

If we were to add a provision that they renew a license every year, would you be comfortable?

I would, and my other concern was, like Lance said, about the structure. There's no language in here about... If you build a big enough structure, there's no language about it being subject to the existing codes for being anchored down or whatever, like a shed.

But it is a chicken coop.

It's got to be under a certain...

But it's about airborne, like a shed.

You're talking about something that could be seven feet tall and in a 10 by 20.

But people have like dog enclosures and playhouses in their backyard.

Yeah. I would be... amenable to asking a licensing fee every year to renew it. I think that's what I would wanna see added and that's about it.

That's mine. What is the staff thing? You think renewing a license every year is a good idea?

Is that hard to add into the?

No, we can create that in our system. Just like our annual alarm permits, we could do the annual licensing for backyard chickens.

Our annual what, sorry?

Annual alarm permits that we issue.

So any further discussion All right, so Basically, we're looking at a motion that accepts this ordinance adding an annual licensing fee and Do I have a

Can I, before we vote on that, what would that change in the process? So it would be, right now, as written, you go to the city, you get a permit, and then you never go to the city again?

Correct. The city has the option of inspecting on an annual basis to check to see everything is up to code. It's optional. I doubt we're going to have enough staff to do it every year to every person who has a chicken.

You'll probably do it when you get a call, right? Probably.

More reactive than proactive, it seems. But if we get complaints, that would, you know, enact a call. It would... cause a reaction for us to go out there and inspect it. And if they lose the permit, they would have to reapply for a permit. Now, with a permit, if it's $65 at the front, it might not be something that's renewed on an annual basis. But if there's a need to increase that cost, the permit can just be increased. And then when people are adding or getting chicken poops, it'll be an increased initial cost of permitting. whether it's an annual thing, I think annually you can keep up with it and maybe make it a lower than 65.

Yeah, I would definitely think it should be lower than 65.

How much is a dog permit, a dog license?

$10 if they're fixed. If they're not, isn't it 45?

I think it's 35. 35 or 45, something like that.

I would be in favor of saying the first time when they have to do the inspection, the initial license is 65 or whatever, and then after that it's 10 or 15 bucks a year. But... But it gives the city an option to adjust that if it becomes a thing. And if it doesn't become a thing, it's 10 or 15 bucks a year.

And to address your concern.

I just want to be sure you know that when somebody goes to get a permit, the city's not going to withhold the permit until they go inspect the site every time. That's not happening. Right.

I think his concern is just that he wants to have a little financial buffer to pay for any complaints or impact that it might have on the...

I just don't believe that impact exists, but it's okay.

I'm actually with you, but in the spirit of compromise... Okay.

I think it's like, you know, we're in a position here to like... Let people do what they want on their private property with some oversight, but we don't have to be in people's backyards every year.

Nor will there be an inspection every year.

But if you have to go back to the city and pay again, I guess it's good to get more information from them or whatever it is, but I don't feel that strongly. I just kind of think that's not the right way to do it.

I personally agree with you, but we have two other board members who are kind of on the other side of the fence, so I feel like that's a good compromise to get the ordinance passed, the revision passed, so.

Isn't the golf cart annual, or is it biannual renewal on that?

I don't know the answer to that.

That's because I just got one.

I don't know. That's not through my department. That's actually done through the police department. Just give an example.

I don't know. I don't remember.

So we're asking how much it costs to do a golf cart renewal every year?

No, I'm just saying that there's already a system like that.

I don't know that it's important for you guys to identify a dollar. You know, the staff could figure it out, but I think it's the process, whether it's an initial permit or an annual renewal, that that's what you're proposing.

It's just like any other renewal.

I'm just a private property person. I have a question. My property, and I understand there has to be oversight.

Yeah, but we're in the city. There's density, so there's neighbors.

A tie, what happens?

A tie, it's dead. The motion would die.

So we would need to get a motion. If we have a tie, the motion dies.

But we don't even have a motion yet.

I actually motion to recommend that the city adopt this as is. Okay. Any second?

Oh, gosh. Well, you know that's going to probably make it die. All right. I do not. Any second? All right. So at the moment, that motion does not pass. Do we have any motion to approve this adding an annual licensing fee? I motion for that.

Without the chair, Chair Olat, you can't make a motion.

Oh, I can't make a motion, okay.

But if you wanna make a motion, no one else makes a motion, you could pass the gavel to someone else. I can be the chair. They could be the chair.

Okay, so.

Well, I would move that we accept this with a license stipulation in lieu of a permit, and the license has a initial fee the same as the permit fee but subsequent to that it's it's ten dollars annually and renews with the other city in the same way as any other city license for any other thing dog cat whatever any second i'll second it all right

Now, a motion has been made to accept the ordinance with the revision that there be a license, initial cost of 65, an additional licensing fee of $10 each year. We've had a motion made. We've had a second. And I think we need to do a roll call, right? Okay. Okay.

What do you vote on that? I'll call the roll. Oh, she'll do it. Thank you. Board Member Palmieri? Yes. Board Member Grasso?

Yes.

Board Member Vogel?

No.

And Vice Chair Ouellette?

Yes.

Motion passes 3-1.

All right. The motion passes as you say and now we are going to ask if there's any information from the staff for the staff update Nothing from the staff and I announce the adjournment of the meeting Thank you Thank you everybody