Patterson council takes up issues with animals

PATTERSON — The City Council on Tuesday took a detour from the usual municipal challenges to deal with animals. It turns out animal problems can be complicated, too.

The council heard from a Twin Street couple who asked for better enforcement of the law governing potentially dangerous dogs. And the council remained split on a proposal that would effectively prohibit large livestock from being housed in the city limits.

Also Tuesday, the council adopted a 2022-23 budget that anticipates a $195,000 budget surplus and provides city employees with a 6% raise with some help from federal funding.

The vicious animal complaint came from Shelly and Juan Reyes, who live on Twin Street. A neighbor behind their home keeps a dog that Juan Reyes said bit him on the arm.

The city’s vicious animal ordinance requires a dog identified as dangerous to be kept indoors or in an area at least 4 feet by 7 feet surrounded by a 6-foot fence, which the neighbor’s property lacks.

“Where’s the enforcement on the dogs people have that are labeled vicious?” Juan Reyes asked.

The complications arose from the fact that the home occupied by the dog owners is rental property.

Mayor Rodney Grogan said that means the owner of the rental property would be responsible for installing the fence. But the owner of the property has a rule against allowing renters to have dogs.

The Reyes couple referred to the dog owned by their neighbors as a pit bull, but the dog turns out to be a boxer.

“When I saw that head on my arm,” Juan Reyes said, “it looked like a pit bull to me.”

The city’s ordinance does not limit the definition of a dangerous dog to any particular breed, City Attorney Russell Cremaldi said.

Also Tuesday, the council tabled discussion of a possible ordinance that would have the effect of banning livestock from property within the city.

The current ordinance requires at least an acre of land for the first animal and a half-acre for each additional animal, plus buildings such as barns for housing them.

But the city has fielded recent complaints about animals. Grogan has said the complaints centered on livestock including ponies and donkeys.

The Planning & Zoning Commission has recommended eliminating the provision allowing animals on an acre or more, which would prohibit large animals altogether. The ordinance doesn’t define the animals it targets, although it hasn’t been applied to poultry, and doesn’t seem likely to ban chickens.
Grogan said Tuesday that people are relying on eggs from their own chickens to bear rising food prices.

In the last few meetings since the Planning & Zoning Commission recommendation, the council has been divided on whether livestock should be banned.
Councilman Joe Russo, an agricultural science teacher, has said he doesn’t feel right about telling a property owner that livestock is banned. Councilman Travis Darnell said Tuesday that he wants to leave the ordinance as it is.

From the audience, former Police Chief Patrick LaSalle said he doesn’t think neighbors should be subject to the smells coming from a livestock pen.

The council will have to either make a decision on whether the ban or some other change is appropriate or whether the ordinance should remain unchanged.

Cremaldi suggested that livestock rules could be part of a redrawing of the city’s zoning map, which is currently underway. A public meeting on the remapping process is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Patterson City Hall.

The 2022-23 budget approved Tuesday anticipates revenue of $8.86 million and spending of $8.67 million, adding about $195,000 to the $14.3 million fund balance.

City employees will receive a 3% raise from city funds and another 3% from American Rescue Plan Act funding.