Aldermen adopt procedure for reasonable accommodations for animals under Fair Housing and ADA (Bill 65‑51)

The Brentwood Board of Aldermen voted to add a new section to the municipal code establishing a procedure to determine reasonable accommodations in city ordinances, rules, and policies pursuant to the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Staff explained the ordinance would create a review path — typically starting at the Public Safety Committee — for requests that fall outside existing animal-control or zoning rules, such as unusual service‑animal or emotional‑support‑animal requests. The code text will permit evidence to be submitted confidentially and said requests will be evaluated on a case‑by‑case basis; examples discussed included exotic animals kept as claimed emotional support (the staff referenced a monkey case in another Missouri municipality) and service animals of breeds restricted by other jurisdictions.

Aldermen clarified the new procedure does not waive existing limits in Brentwood’s code on numbers or types of animals: staff said the code still limits dogs and provides equivalency rules for small pets (for example, several small animals may equal one pet for counting purposes) and that emotional‑support designations do not lift the overall caps. Board members also asked whether reasonable‑accommodation claims could include non‑animal items; staff said the procedure applies only to items that do not require zoning variances.

On the vote to perfect and adopt Bill 65‑51, the roll call recorded seven yes votes and one recusal; the measure becomes ordinance. Staff noted an appeal route to court remains available if an accommodation request is denied.