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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — APRIL 14, 2025 20 City Administrator Jagoe said Staff can provide the ordinance and Council can direct what they are looking to have changed. Councilmember Weber is interested in having ducks included in the conversation. Kept ducks don't migrate. He said he would rather just have one discussion. If there isn't any significant legal difference between the two. If the rules and regulations aren't that different, it makes sense to discuss them together. Mayor Grant doesn't think ducks need a run or a coop. They aren't really a flock animal. There are differences between ducks and chickens. Councilmember Holden said there was one resident whose duck was eaten by a fox. She wanted to make sure she was legal, when she did it. She isn't sure why we're having this conversation. Councilmember Weber doesn't know the history behind that situation. That isn't the reason of the topic, for him. He would like to have Staff s researched opinion on the rules and regulations on ducks vs. chickens. Mayor Grant said he thinks we should include ducks. First reason being that the chicks have sold out. He said there is already an ordinance. If someone wants to build the coop and the run, it's well documented in the City Code. There are a couple of items to be cleaned up but it's nothing major. There is nothing in place when you look at the duck side of things. Councilmember Weber said he was on the Planning Commission when they reviewed the chicken ordinance. There are changes he would like to see to that ordinance. The Planning Commission gave recommendations that were ignored. There was a range of chickens, a range of run sizes and a range of other factors. The Council chose the minimum for absolutely everything and chose the maximum for the required run. It seemed that the regulations were set up in such a way that very few residents would qualify to have them. Councilmember Holden said the Planning Commission is an advisory commission. Planning Commissioners don't get phone calls from everyone whose neighbor's chickens are running down the road, or the calls regarding roosters screaming all day. Maybe the Planning Commission doesn't have all the information that the City Council has. They followed the guidelines. It wasn't that the recommendations were ignored. The Council had different information. Mayor Grant said he thinks we should look at ducks. If people are okay with that, let's just look at ducks. Councilmember Monson wants the discussion to be ducks and chickens. If we're doing one or the other she would want to do chickens first. Mayor Grant surveyed Council. Councilmember Monson said if she has to pick one, its chickens. She would prefer to discuss both. Councilmember Rousseau agreed. Her choice is chickens if we can only do one.