09-14-2023-Planning Commission Packet

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STAFF REPORT 1 TO:Chair Johnson and Members of the Planning Commission FROM:Corrin Wendell, Community Development Director Laura Linehan, Community Relations Manager Brian Reimers, Administration Fellow DATE:September 11, 2023 RE:City Code Chicken Ordinance – Text Amendment ACTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED The Planning Commission is asked to make a recommendation to the City Council related to a proposed Ordinance Amending the Little Canada City Code to Allow the Raising of Chickens. BACKGROUND At the January 25, 2017 City Council meeting, a group of residents approached the City Council and requested that residents in Little Canada be allowed to raise chickens in residential areas of the City. This group of residents provided additional background information and conducted a significant amount of community outreach on this topic. The Council chose to hold a workshop and invite the community members to present additional information on this topic. Following the workshop, staff developed some draft language relating to the raising of chickens for further consideration by the City Council. After initial review, it was determined that the draft language was too restrictive and would have only enabled a small handful of residents to qualify for raising chickens based on the size of their lot. At that time, there was no further direction from the City Council and the topic was not raised again until earlier this year. During the summer of 2023, several residents began reaching out to staff and City Council members about the possibility of raising chickens. Staff began to research this topic again and gathered information from surrounding municipalities that have approved an ordinance. After researching six other neigboring municipalities that allow the raising and keeping of chickens (New Brighton, Mounds View, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Roseville, and Maplewood), staff presented some preliminary information at the August Planning Commission meeting. The Planning Commission was presented with a sample ordinance and information from each of the surrounding municipalities at the August 10 Planning Commission meeting. City staff also proposed a community survey related to various aspects of the ordinance to obtain further input from local residents. Following the staff presentation, several residents spoke in favor of allowing Little Canada residents to raise chickens on residential property and why they are in favor of this ordinance. Based on the feedback received at the Planning Commission meeting, a preliminary survey was published on August 11 to capture basic feedback on permitting residential chicken and/or fowl.