A few residents shared input on the animal control ordinance before the council voted on several amendments at the Providence Village Town Council meeting on Tuesday.
First to speak was resident Elise Jumbelick, who asked the council to postpone a vote to give her more time to gather details from residents before she joins the council in the Place 6 seat in the coming weeks.
“It looks like residents have a lot of things to say, and I would like to try to get more information from them to see what they would like to see specifically, if there's any other language that they would like to see change,” Jumbelick said.
The amendments listed for discussion were “keeping of livestock; providing repealing, savings, and severability clauses; providing for enforcement; providing for a penalty; and providing for an effective date; repealing Ordinance No. 2011-22-04, Ordinance No. 2011-22-03, Ordinance No. 2013-056A, Ordinance No. 2012-043, and Ordinance No. 2011-22.”
Town Secretary Hilary McConnell read comments sent from residents Christa Miranda and Valentyn Bannikov via email addressing the same topic.
Miranda expressed her support for allowing chickens in the community with proper restrictions, including limits on the number of birds per lot based on property size, allowing only birds suitable for the lot size, prohibiting roosters and requiring coop cleanliness standards.
“Furthermore, I suggest considering the number of approval process similar to existing protocols for structures such as sheds, solar panels and gazebos,” Miranda wrote.
Bannikov said she supports holding pet owners responsible for cleaning up after their pets, especially fecal matter, but asked for clearer wording in Section 2.07.001.
“The cleanup method described in the ordinance also applies only to feces, not urine,” Bannikov wrote. “Leaving broad terms such as soil and defiled in the ordinance may also imply misuse of selective complaints to residents of simply dislike animals, rather than addressing actual unsanitary conditions.”
Council member Klayton Rutherford led the conversation regarding the proposed amendments to the animal control ordinance.
“Animal welfare is kind of my passion and my day job,” Rutherford said. “So, I really appreciate the years of work, literally, that went into this. I think Brian and I first met about this two years ago, and I appreciate Brian and Dustin and Becky. They've all listened to me get all my soapbox about various animal issues as we've worked on this.”
He added that the goal of the amendment is to refine and clarify the existing ordinance and that future amendments can still be made.
The council voted to define the term household pets to include “any dog, cat or other animal commonly kept for companionship, pleasure or hobby.”
The council also added a phrase to the end of the third item listed under the public nuisance animal definition, which will now read as “Any animal that damages, soils, defiles or defecates on any property other than that of its owner; unless feces are appropriately collected in a timely manner.”
Mayor Linda Inman thanked the council and staff who were involved in the ordinance.
The motion was approved with one no vote by council member Stephen Benton.
Council adopted the proclamation for Public Service Recognition Week, from Sunday through Saturday, in Providence Village.
The proclamation recognizes the work of all public service departments, such as Utilities, Permitting, Public Safety, Public Works and Administration, to name a few.
The council thanked the staff for their contributions.
Earlier in the meeting, Roberson also noted that starting June 1, the intersection of Providence Boulevard and Waterbury Drive will be closed for a scheduled sanitary sewer repair project.
