- April 25, 2024
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The county will consider further revisions to the animal sanctuary code before voting.
Animal lovers filled Flagler County Board of County Commission chambers Monday, Oct. 3, to air concerns over provisions to the land development code for unincorporated Flagler County. In its second reading, a revised animal sanctuary ordinance received public input requesting further revision.
Opinion from shelter owners and animal advocates was unanimous: The ordinance is too strict. Possibly the largest item of contention was the animals-per-acre issue. Up from five acres, the current ordinance deems that in order to keep 30 animals, stewards must have at least 10 acres of land.
“Our intent is not to go after anybody, or shut anybody down,” County Administrator Craig Coffey said. “The board has to figure out how to allow shelters to expand, while still adhering to the ordinance.”
To figure out how to do that, the board looked to the experts.
Debi Root, of Second-Chance Rescue, said that care should be the primary issue, not property.
“You are requiring too much of people,” she said. “I can tell you now: I don’t have the land for what you’re requiring.” She said she would be supportive of random inspections to check on her and other facilities’ living standards.
Director of Planning and Zoning Adam Mengel noted that a grandfathering clause would be extended to current shelters. He said the ordinance was developed after researching similar codes from nearby counties. Farms are excluded from the provisions.
Still, 10 advocates joined Root at the podium to dissent.
“You’re cramming it down everybody in West Flagler’s throat,” said Cheryl Trujillo, owner of Curly’s Place. “Why can’t we be an animal-friendly county, versus what we’re known for right now?”
She was referring to a much-publicized incident last year, when the county euthanized an entire sanctuary of 400 pot-bellied pigs in West Flagler after disease spread and state and federal agencies deemed the animals neglected and unsalvageable.
According to Coffey, ordinances are being reformed partly to avoid a similar event in the future.
Still, the board has no interest in creating a “shelter police,” County Commissioner Barbara Revels said. She doesn’t want to form a group that searches for violations to cite. The system will be purely complaint-driven.
But to Commission Chairman Alan Peterson, to approve an ordinance which includes exceptions, or puts people in violation from the start, is “bad government.”
Under the ordinance, if a hunter in unincorporated Flagler owns four or more dogs on less than an acre, his home would be considered a shelter, and could be cited — if one of his neighbors called in to complain.
“If we have an ordinance that specifies what’s allowed and what’s not allowed, then code enforcement has a responsibility to enforce it,” he said. “They don’t have to go out and search for violations, but if they find it, they have to enforce it.”
Coffey suggested creating a second, separate ordinance, to differentiate between smaller, more domestic shelters and larger ones.
When he requested the board approve the current ordinance, including staff direction to continue work on the second, the crowd burst into a chorus of “No!”
“The plan was to get it together and then tweak it,” Revels said. “(But) maybe we should tweak it first, and then put it in place.”
Peterson asked Coffey to publicly meet with concerned individuals to develop potential solutions for the regulation. The ordinance, with revisions, will again be considered at the commission’s Nov. 7 meeting.
