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As you may have heard, the council’s Planning & Public Works Committee recently discussed a proposal by Councilmember Steve Kay to allow residents to keep certain farm animals within the urban area. Lexington’s ordinances currently allow citizens to keep dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits and a variety of other animals in non-agricultural zones, but other types of animals are not allowed, such as hogs, pigs, goats, cows, dangerous wildlife and other animals that would disturb the peace. The recent proposal to permit small goats and pigs within the urban area included restrictions on the size of the animal and the minimum allowed space in which they could be kept.
Urban farming has become a topic of great interest in recent years due to numerous benefits of producing food locally. With local food, you have a better idea where your food came from and how it was produced. Local food puts money back into our local economy, and the earth is saved from exhaust fumes just a little bit when your tomatoes aren’t driven from half way around the world. I support our local farmers markets and believe offering a variety of food options to our community is important. But I was unable to support an ordinance that allows folks to keep farm animals, even small pigs and goats, in our urban zones and residential neighborhoods.
While other committee members had reservations about the draft ordinance as well, the proposal was only narrowly defeated by a vote of four to five. Councilmembers Kay, Blues, Ford and Lawless voted in support of the ordinance, and I voted with Councilmembers Ellinger, Farmer, Gorton and Henson against it.
Currently, Lexington allows chickens in urban areas, and you can’t believe how many complaints my office receives about cackling chickens. I believe allowing more types of farm animals in the urban area would only make matters worse. Lexington hardly has the resources to enforce its current animal ordinance, let alone one allowing small pigs and goats.
The proposal would be particularly disruptive in older neighborhoods that aren’t protected by restrictive covenants, as pens with small pigs and goats could be kept right out in front yards. The point is that it would be very difficult to manage where and how these farm animals would be kept. I know my neighbors don’t want me to have a pig pen in my front yard.
Allowing farm animals within the urban boundary can also have a real impact on a neighborhood and its property values. While there is no doubt that a number of very responsible urban farmers could manage their animals without any problems, people in my district experience firsthand what happens when animals – particularly those cackling chickens – are not properly cared for. It would be completely unfair for urban farmers to hurt property values of people in their neighborhoods who do not share their vision for home-raised pigs and goats.
Fayette County is a heavily agricultural area, with over 73 percent of our land designated as some kind of agricultural zone. There is plenty of farm land where folks can raise animals within 20 minutes of downtown. We can and should raise our own farm animals in Lexington, but not within our urban areas and residential neighborhoods. Cities adopt zoning rules in the first place so that similar and compatible land uses can be grouped together. And citizens who bought their homes in a residential neighborhood, and not an agricultural zone, have the right to protect their home values and to choose to live away from the sights, sounds and smells of pigs and goats, even small ones. And those cackling chickens.