Politics & Government

City Council Approves 'A Great Chicken Ordinance'

The law legalizing residential chicken keeping is approved and public speakers bring up hot topics for council consideration.

Chickens

In October, after a summer of City Council pecking around the issue, by the council to draft an ordinance that in all single family residential zones.

At last week's City Council meeting the first reading of that ordinance was made. Attached to this article is a copy of the first draft of that ordinance.

Find out what's happening in Santeewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Three people submitted speaker slips in support, including Alan and Ken Stuart, the folks who brought this issue to the council's attention to begin with.

Alan said he supported this ordinance in general, with a few points of contention- the main one being the implementation of a grandfather clause for people that already have chicken coops that may not fall exactly within the details of the new ordinance.

Find out what's happening in Santeewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Some of the council seemed to have a problem understanding the concept of a grandfather clause, they spent a few minutes on that topic alone. Councilman John Minto said it was a case of "attrition by compliance," referring to the fact that chickens weren't legal in most cases, so to make up for the years of law-breaking, current coop owners can change their coop setup to comply with the new law.

"There's no such thing as a grandfather clause for breaking the law," said Councilman Rob McNelis. 

McNelis had a laundry list of questions about the ordinance, especially concerning the enforceability of the law given the single code compliance officer on city staff.

"We're adding a brand new ordinance... adding more to the list of ordinances that already can't be enforced," he said.

City staff said that fines for breaking the chicken-keeping law would be $100 a day, after a ten day grace period is given to remedy any problems.

"If everyone did what they were supposed to do, we wouldn't need someone to enforce, but that's not society," said McNelis.

Minto made a motion to approve the ordinance with a slight change to the wording so that the coop doesn't need to be made of mesh, but can be made of any similar durable material.

The vote came down 3-2, with Ryan and McNelis voting against.

There will be one final reading of the ordinance at the next council meeting.

"Who would've thought city staff would make such a great chicken ordinance!" said Mayor Randy Voepel.

Redevelopment

The that effectively dissolved all redevelopment agencies in the state, including the Santee Community Development Commission (SCDC). .

The city council voted to become the successor to Santee's redevelopment agency, and will be in control of winding down the last projects that are underway, specifically Prospect Avenue redevelopment.

Warren Savage, who's worked with the Santee Chamber of Commerce for years, came to the mic to give his take on redevelopment in Santee.

"I've seen redevelopment work in this town and really make Town Center a reality," he said. "I can't commend the city council enough for keeping the redevelopment going the right direction, a shame to see the state steal from our pockets and our property."

Low Income Mobile Home Renters

A public comment on the redevelopment issue concerned the $100 low income mobile home renter benefit that was funded by redevelopment money. She asked if this would be affected by the loss of redevelopment funds, and the council said it would be. 

She added that most of those benefactors are living on social security and asked council to help however they can, even if that means speak with landlords to try and lower rent.

"I'm not sure how were going to deal with low income housing, 20 percent of redevelopment was going to that," said Councilman Jack Dale.

This comes on the heels of attempts by mobile home park operators to . The city has spent more than $2 million, so far, defending the rent-control ordinance in court.

Public Comment

Quail Brush Power Plant- A resident and home owner in a neighborhood bordering Sycamore Canyon raised concerns over the in the Sycamore Canyon hills above . The Quail Brush Power Plant is in the planning and discussion phase and the CA Energy Commission is hosting a that is open to the public.

The homeowner expressed shared neighborhood concerns about the power plant, including noise pollution, air pollution, affects on traffic and home values.

On the same note, the Sunset Greens Homeowner Association submitted a resoluton to the Energy Commission last week in opposition to the project.

The City Council said they would be discussing the project in closed session after the Jan. 11 meeting, but because the project is on city of San Diego land, there may be little they can do to affect its progress.

. Santee Patch will be attending the Jan. 25 site visit and publishing information about the project as it proceeds.


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