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AGENDA BILL Agenda Item No. 4(8) Date: February 6, 2012 To: El Cerrito City Council From: Sky Woodruff, City Attorney Karen Pinkos, Assistant City Manager Subject: Direction on Residential Animal Slaughter Regulations ACTION REQUESTED Provide direction to staff whether to amend El Cerrito Municipal Code Title 7, "Animals", to include regulations on residential animal slaughter. BACKGROUND Beginning in 2009, the Environmental Quality Committee (EQC) and staff held a series of public meetings to address amendments to El Cerrito Municipal Code (ECMC) Title 7, "Animals." These amendments responded to an interest voiced by residents to keep certain animals that can be raised for sustainable purposes and food production. Based on these meetings and the recommendations of the EQC, Planning Commission, and City Council, staff developed a revised ordinance including new provisions for keeping chickens, bees, goats and other animals. The City Council passed Ordinance 2011-05 on November 21, 2011 with an effective date of April1, 2012. In its review of the ordinance on November 21, the Council requested that the City Attorney elaborate on the legal considerations and risks involved in choosing to regulate or not to regulate animal slaughter. The ordinance includes language that strengthened sanitation and nuisance requirements in order to address potential impacts of animal slaughter. This is the approach that staff recommended to mitigate any impacts resulting from animal slaughter on residentially zoned properties. The sanitation language in the ordinance requires areas where animals are to be kept clean and waste to be removed daily (or more often as necessary to maintain a sanitary environment). In addition, the ordinance contains an explicit reference to the ECMC Chapter governing nuisances so that the City has enforcement authority over any nuisance conditions which resulted from animal slaughter. Finally, the ordinance has a standard for animal noise in addition to the standards in the County Animal Code. ANALYSIS The attached memorandum from the City Attorney discusses various policy and legal issues the Council may consider when determining whether to regulate residential animal slaughter. ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. 4(8) Reviewed by: Attachment: 1. City Attorney Memorandum on Animal Slaughter Regulations Page 2 ---PAGE BREAK--- meyers DATE: TO: FROM: BY: COPY: nave January 31, 2012 555 12th Street, Suite 1500 Oakland, California 94607 tel [PHONE REDACTED] fax [PHONE REDACTED] www.meyersnave.com Hon. Mayor and City Council City of El Cerrito Sky Woodruff, City Attorney Erin E. Burg Hupp, Attorney Scott, Hanin, City Manager K aren Pinkos, Assistant City Manager Jennifer Carman, Planning Manager Sean Moss, Senior Planner Agenda Item No. 4(B) Attachment 1 Sky Woodruff Attorney at Law [EMAIL REDACTED] RE: Animal Slaughter Policy Considerations and Options for Regulation I. Background Since May of 2009, the Environmental Quality Committee, the Planning Commission and the City Council ("Council") have been working with the public to update the Animal Ordinance in order to allow the small scale, non-commercial keeping of backyard animals that are sources of food. On November 21, the Council reviewed the proposed draft of the Animal Ordinance. At that time, the staff report reflected this office's recommendation that, rather than specifically regulate residential slaughter, the Council should instead use existing nuisance abatement tools, with potential adjustments related to slaughter, to address the secondary effects of slaughter if El Cerrito residents choose to engage in the practice. The Council requested that this office elaborate on the legal considerations and risks involved in choosing to regulate or not to regulate animal slaughter. This memorandum summarizes the push and pull of the different policies affected by the options available to the Council for regulating residential slaughter (or not) and the legal risks involved based on various policy priorities the Council may choose. II. Policy Considerations In determining whether and how to address the issue of residential animal slaughter, we think it would be helpful to lay out for the Council the different policy interests at play so that the Council can prioritize its policy interests and consider how giving one policy goal a higher priority may incidentally affect another. For example, at the public hearing on Animal A PROFESSIONAL LAW CORPORATION OAKLAND LOS ANGELES SACRAMENTO SAN FRANCISCO SANTA ROSA FRESNO ---PAGE BREAK--- To: Hon. Mayor and City Council From: Sky Woodruff, City Attorney Re: Animal Slaughter Policy Considerations and Options for Regulation Date: January 31, 2012 Page: 2 Ordinance, members of the public and representatives of the Animal Legal Defense Fund advised the Council that it could lawfully prohibit residential slaughter, even though doing so would affect recognized religious practice. I