The Fishers City Council had a lengthy agenda Monday with a total of 27 items. Most were handled quickly and routinely, including economic development projects and a revised ordinance on weeds and vegetation standards within city limits.
However, the item that fueled the most discussion was about allowing one goat at Riverside Intermediate School.
That’s right, the Fishers City Council spent 15 to 20 minutes debating goat policy.
The city Planning Department explained that the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) was previously amended to allow the Fishers Director of Planning approval authority for fowl animals located in and around Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools. Other farm animals were not included.
The staff was asking council members to allow an exemption from the current UDO to allow the one goat on the school corporation’s property adjacent to Riverside Intermediate, and to allow the city Planning Director approval authority for not just chicken coops (fowl) but also farm animals.
Councilman Pete Peterson was the first to speak and voiced concerns about how the goat will be handled, and staff explained that the Riverside principal asked for the exemption and is confident the school can handle this goat.
Councilman Todd Zimmerman asked how many animals could be approved as a result of the UDO exemption authority, saying he is not against what Riverside is trying to do, he’s concerned about what may come later.
City Planning and Zoning Director Tony Bagato said his staff was just trying to keep the council from approving every request for farm animals by schools.
Peterson responded that he trusts city staff to handle the approvals, however, “… if something happens to those animals, it falls back on the city’s lap and (City Attorney Chris Greisl’s) lap … if they have a horse, if they have a bull, you have four cows, and they create chaos running down the middle of 116th Street, and some stampede, because they’re animals,” he said. He wants to be sure any approval takes all this into consideration.
Mayor Scott Fadness chimed in to say that there is precedent for city planning staff to allow for animals in Fishers under the current rules in place. He recommends the City Council enact rules and let the staff handle specific animal requests.
Bagato recommended that the council approve the one goat requested by Riverside Intermediate, because council action is needed for a grant application by the school.
The mayor recommended a 30-day delay, allowing the staff to have more UDO language prepared for the council. A motion was made and seconded to allow Riverside its one goat. Then Councilman David George said he planned to vote against that motion because goats are much different animals than chickens.
At that point the motion was suspended and a new motion was passed to table the entire matter, which passed unanimously.
After the longest discussion about any agenda item considered that night, the Fishers City Council made no decision on the one goat requested by Riverside Intermediate.