Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Animal Control Ordinance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Public Safety Committee forwards revised animal-control ordinance to council
Summary
The committee unanimously recommended City Council passage of ordinance DAC-3486 on June 11, revising pet-licensing terms, breeder permits and foster rules to ease fostering and adjust limits on household animals.
The Overland Park Public Safety Committee voted unanimously June 11 to recommend City Council passage of ordinance DAC-3486, a package of changes to the city’s animal-control code intended to simplify licensing, make fostering easier and adjust breeder and household-animal rules.
City attorney’s office staff told the committee the ordinance implements four changes the committee requested after earlier briefings from the SPCA and animal-control officers. The changes include allowing one-, two- and three-year pet licenses to be issued through the city clerk’s office and raising the number of animals a household may keep without a special permit to four in any combination of dogs and cats.
The ordinance also changes breeder-permit requirements so that a permit is required per animal that is bred more than twice per year, rather than a single permit covering multiple animals. Staff said the change aims to reduce the number of unwanted animals by increasing permit specificity.
Fostering rules were simplified: the city removed the separate animal-foster-home permit. Residents who foster animals through a licensed adoption shelter will be allowed to keep a fostered animal for up to 180 days without registering it as their own; if the foster arrangement extends beyond 180 days, the resident must register the animal.
City staff also added a definition for “animal rescue operation” to support the revised fostering provisions and removed an outdated, annex-specific animal provision so the four-animal rule applies citywide.
At the meeting Eric Leonard, senior assistant to the city attorney, summarized the changes and said he had implemented the committee’s direction. "I believe I did everything you asked me to do," he told the committee.
Vote and next steps
A motion to recommend City Council passage of ordinance DAC-3486 was made and approved unanimously; the recommendation advances the ordinance to City Council for final consideration.
What the ordinance does not change
Staff emphasized that except for the four changes described, existing municipal code provisions were left in place. The committee’s action does not itself change enforcement practice; those details will remain part of municipal operations and any implementing administrative rules.
