Residents of Vancouver may soon be limited in how many cats, hens or rabbits they can keep on their property.
On Monday, Vancouver City Council voted to advance an ordinance that would prohibit residents from keeping more than five adult cats, five adult hens or five adults rabbits on their property. Residential properties larger than 10,000 square feet would be allowed an additional hen or rabbit for each 1,000 square feet, under the ordinance.
According to a staff report, the city’s current code limits the number of adult dogs allowed on private residences to three and prohibits roosters and peacocks. The ordinance, which has been in the works since earlier this year and will be heard and voted on July 10, is intended to discourage hoarding while also addressing noise, odor and property destruction concerns.
The council was provided with two different versions of the ordinance and opted for one that allows residents to have up to 10 adults cats if they are participating in a foster program run by a nonprofit.
Update
• What’s happened: Vancouver officials have been looking for ways to discourage animal hoarding while addressing noise, odor and property damage by large numbers of animals.
• What’s new: The Vancouver City Council introduced an ordinance that would prohibit residents from keeping more than five adult cats, five adult hens or five adult rabbits on their property. Properties larger than 10,000 square feet would be allowed an additional hen or rabbit for each 1,000 square feet.
• What’s next: The ordinance will be subject to a July 10 hearing and vote.
During the meeting, the council heard from Sherry Mowatt, a resident of the Hough neighborhood, who said that she has a flock of a dozen hens. She said she cares for them responsibly and expressed concern about the ordinance. Bryan Snodgrass, principal planner in the city’s Community and Economic Development Department, explained that people like Mowatt would effectively be grand- fathered in.
But Councilor Alishia Topper expressed reservations about the ordinance, specifically how the number of animals the measure allows for was chosen “randomly,” and how it could adversely affect responsible animal owners.
“It’s like we are penalizing the people who are being good because of the people who are behaving poorly,” she said. Topper suggested creating some sort of permit for people to own more animals.
Councilor Ty Stober said that the ordinance was crafted partially in response to a resident who was raising in a “suspect fashion” rabbits and chickens on their property.
“We are a city,” he said. “We are not unincorporated Clark County.”
