06-09-25 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JUNE 9, 2025 14 the line of sight. It states "chickens must not be housed in a residential house or attached or detached garage". She thinks we can combine number 5 with number 2, that would shorten it. Number 7 states "all grain and food for the use of hens on premises". She thinks that is encapsulated with G outlining the rodent proof coop construction. She thought that could be removed. The last sentence in Number 6 says "failure to comply may result in officer removing chickens from the premises or revocation of the chicken license." She thinks that is redundant and covered in Number 9. She sees opportunities to combine some of these items together to reduce the length of the document. Councilmember Monson generally agrees but doesn't know how deep we need to go. She thinks the core issues are you need more hens to keep them warm. She doesn't agree with the requirement to get the neighbor's approval. She thinks there should be a neighbor notification, but residents should be able to do what they want on their property and shouldn't have to seek neighbor's approval. She agrees the visual screen should be removed. That makes it very expensive. Councilmember Holden has some issues. This is all wonderful for the people who want chickens. There was a survey and a significant amount of people don't want chickens. What about them? Now we're saying someone can place a chicken coop as far away from their property and the neighbor will have to look at it but the person with the chickens don't have to. Chickens smell. It may be hard to enforce, but having requirements gives a leg to stand on. If the coop odor is detected by a neighbor, we can say they are in violation and make them clean it. There doesn't seem to be any consideration for the residents who don't want chickens. We have to balance this. Mayor Grant doesn't think we need to fix everything in here. He thinks Councilmembers Weber and Rousseau have given us a number of things to look at. He's fine with moving from a 2-year license to an annual license at $15.00. Councilmember Weber said it is currently per bird. He is suggesting one license, essentially permitting the coop, not the animals. Discussion ensued regarding the current length and cost of a license. It is a 2-year license for $15.00. Councilmember Holden asked what the cost for Animal Control is. She knows Animal Control has picked up roosters running down the street. Mayor Grant said it is more than $15.00. Councilmember Holden thinks it's $100.00 a day. Mayor Grant asked if Councilmember Holden thinks the license fee should be higher. Councilmember Holden confirmed. She would support it being $20.00. We are going to have that. We've had it and they aren't even licensed. Mayor Grant asked what Council feels about $20.00.