After the City of Powell’s rules for exotic pets drew a federal lawsuit, the city council is preparing to rewrite the ordinances. Whether they’ll make it easier to keep an unusual pet in town or just tweak the existing process has yet to be determined.

The discussion was spurred by a suit brought by Powell resident Venus Bontadelli, who challenged the council’s July decision to deny a permit for her pet pygmy goat, Porsche Lane. In her court filing, Bontadelli contended that the city’s permitting process for exotic pets is arbitrary and capricious, lacking objective standards.

The council formally settled the case last week by agreeing to issue a five-year permit for Porsche Lane, as Bontadelli had originally requested. Council members also decided it’s time to reconsider their rules.

“... obviously we would like to make some changes to clarify, clean up [or] create an ordinance,” Mayor John Wetzel said at the council’s Jan. 19 meeting.

Wetzel and the council directed City Attorney Scott Kolpitcke to research the rules in other communities and report back on possible options.

For his part, Councilman Troy Bray suggested the city create a specific set of criteria that, if met, would lead to the issuance of a permit.

Bray proposed that a permit “shall” be issued if: the owner hasn’t had any animal-related violations in the past year and can show they’re able to care for the pet; the animal is an herbivore or “can be demonstrated to not be a hazard to the public”; is a breed that weighs no more than 80 pounds; and isn’t an invasive species.

Wetzel said Bray’s draft could be included in the mix of options but said he saw “a few gaps” in that approach. The mayor mentioned other options could include only allowing certain types of animals.

“I mean, we could also just say there are no exotic pets allowed in the City of Powell,” Wetzel said. “I’m not saying we do that, but I’d like to look at some of the discussion.”

Councilman Zane Logan agreed with considering multiple options, saying he believes “there needs to be some time taken on this.” 

Kolpitcke suggested the city could reexamine all of its animal-related ordinances as a part of the process, but Wetzel balked at going that far.

“I really would like to pinpoint what we’re trying to get at and not tear the cover off,” Wetzel said. “In the 20 years I’ve been doing this, there’s [been] some pretty contentious things. … if we look at every single animal ordinance, we will pack this house.”

Powell drew national headlines in 2007 for a contentious debate over whether to allow rabbits in town (some are now allowed, with limits) and a decision to allow up to four chickens also drew a passionate response in 2014.

Logan suggested the city should suspend its exotic pet permitting process while the ordinance is being reviewed, but Kolpitcke didn’t believe that was necessary; the attorney said the rare requests — Bontadelli was the only resident to request a permit in the last couple of years — could be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

However, council members expressed some consternation that the publicity surrounding Porsche Lane — the dispute over the pygmy goat also drew national headlines — might lead to more requests for exotic pets.

Councilman Steve Lensegrav said he’s been asked, “are we going to get a whole bunch of these before something … changes?” and noted that’s a possibility.

Given that the situation has been in the public for months, Bray suggested that a big surge in requests would have started by now. If there is an influx of requests, Bray said the council could suspend the process at that point.

However, Wetzel cautioned, “if a month down the road we get another [permit request], then we’re back into where we've been before.”

The council members ultimately decided to begin the process of repealing the existing exotic pet ordinances while they consider what changes they want to make.