Edgewood staff and planning commission push clearer, more permissive animal rules; council to consider ordinance Feb. 25

Edgewood — City staff and the Planning Commission recommended a set of changes to Edgewood Municipal Code Title 18 that would clarify which animals are allowed in residential areas, add minimum spacing and setback rules, and remove a separate “family farm” land-use category.

The planning commission voted Feb. 10 to recommend the amendments to the City Council, and staff told the council at its Feb. 18 study session that the council will consider a final ordinance at its Feb. 25 meeting.

The proposal distinguishes personal animal uses (household and small-scale production), commercial animal operations and industrial processing. It adds numeric spacing standards — based on state models used by other cities — for large animals (for example, a cow would require about 10,000 square feet, with additional area for each additional animal) and sets rules for pets, beekeeping and pet-care businesses. The package removes an older “family farm” definition that staff said created inconsistencies when compared with the land-use code.

"The intent was to provide greater flexibility," staff member Morgan Dorner told council, describing several months of Planning Commission hearings and a public-notice period that drew both formal and informal comment. "We only had about a total of, like, 5 to 6 rooster-related complaints in the city since June," she added, noting that most commenters told staff their concerns had been resolved during the commission process.

Planning Commission Chair Joanne Overfield said the commission debated a range of issues — from parking standards to hazardous-vegetation rules — but that the rooster question received the most attention. "As you may know, we will be allowing roosters in Edgewood,” Overfield said, adding that the draft ordinance would permit roosters only on lots larger than 1.5 acres, require setbacks to reduce noise impacts on neighbors and require roosters to be sheltered at night.

Council members asked staff to confirm how the revised rules would interact with other permits and with state oversight. Morgan Dorner said animal-control functions (dangerous or loose animals) remain handled under the city’s animal-control chapter and by the county/Metro Animal Services; the Title 18 amendments focus on land-use and development standards.

The draft also clarifies that small-scale production (for example, household egg sales) would be allowed under the personal-animal-use category, while large commercial hog or pig operations would still be treated as distinct land uses and are not anticipated within Edgewood’s mostly residential and small-lot context.

If Council approves the ordinance Feb. 25 as drafted, the updated code will replace the shorter, more-prohibitive wording currently in Title 18 with the more detailed standards staff said are necessary when the city moves from a de facto prohibition to an explicit allowance for certain animal uses.

Next steps: the Council will consider formal action on the ordinance at its Feb. 25 meeting. Staff said that if Council requests changes, the amendments could be returned for additional public review and a hearing.