Code Violation - Lake County, FL

[Gayle Harris]

Lake County is in a bit of hot water right now. The head of Code Enforcement resigned abruptly after the officer over animal compliance gave the county her resignation and went to the press with her story over a herd of imaciated cows that belonged to a prominent, rancher attorney from Tampa. Seems the county attorney, Sandy Minkoff called the guy and told him to remove the cattle before the officer could get an injunction to remove the cattle, basically get them some care and feed. There are articles all over the Orlando Sentinel under "skinny cows". Problem became compounded when some vet said the cows were sick when they were brought from Texas. Seems to me the county are obligated to quarintine those cattle, not have them moved in the middle of the night to Marion County. Now the director of County Works Jim Stivender, is overseeing Code Enforcement, Animal Compliance and Parole Services the job Greg Welsted resigned from. Not sure what Parole Services is, but seems that would be a busy department for just one director. Lake County's Code Enforcement is a bit of a mess. One of my neighbors was recently given a violation notice and was told that he could not even lay wood on the ground without a permit. I think it is a bit excessive. As far as stating clearly on the Lake County website what their policies are, they are notorious for being vague..most of the time the attitiude is "because I said so". It is somewhat juvenile. Tuesday, Commisioner Caldwell did say the gentleman that stood and argued property rights issues-for a sand pit/burrow operation-in the last Commissioner's Zoning Hearing was going to encourage the man's neighbor to start a chicken farm and have him return with his property rights argument. So, maybe Commissioner Caldwell will make a motion to allow chickens after all!

Gayle Harris

 

[samalec]

Got this the other day from Commissioner Sean Parks in regards to an ongoing conversation regarding the ownership of chickens here in Lake County.

Mr. Malec,

Thank you for contacting me.

I can confirm that this issue will be discussed at the May 21st BCC meeting (9am Tavares). [The address is 315 Main Street.] Are you able to attend?

At the meeting, we will receive an update on the changes to the code. I expect that we will direct staff to move forward with the changes including the ones you reference.

If you can not attend I will make sure you get a copy of what is proposed.

I support the changes and hope we can get them approved by the Board soon. Thank you for your patience. We have been making all these changes by utilizing staff and not paying for outside help. Times are tight and we are pushing them hard but I expect these changes will be made.

Thank you.

Sean

Hope somebody might be able to make it. I can't get off work at all that week.

 

[samalec]

Quick update folks,

I just got an email from Sean Parks.

FYI

Thank you for your interest in chicken ownership regulations for Lake County.

This issue was scheduled for the May 21st BCC meeting. Due to the lengthy nature of a zoning case that day, the issue has been rescheduled for the June 4th BCC meeting - Tavares, 9am.

I believe you will like some of the options presented during the meeting and encourage you to attend if possible. If not, please consider supporting the issue via letter to other Commissioners. You should include your reasons for supporting this change to our zoning regulations.

Have a great day.

Sean Parks

Lake County Commissioner, District 2

As you can see, the issue has been rescheduled for Tuesday, June 4 at 9am. If you can, please attend and be ready to lend your support.

Thank you
Seth

 

[sayhill]

Thanks for the info! I am going to write letters to the commissioners and try to attend the meeting.

 

[samalec]

Just left the meeting; they rescheduled it until July 9 @ 9am. Contact person is Amy King. [email protected]

 

[samalec]

Yet another update:

Got this email last Friday.
Mr. ______ –

I am writing to advise you that on June 18th the Chicken ownership issue will be brought before the BCC. The meeting is held in Board Chambers, 315 W. Main St., Tavares on the 2nd floor of the Round Admin building. The meeting starts @ 9am.

Thanks,

Andrea Kennard
Commissioner’s Aide
Lake County Board of County Commissioner’s
P.O. Box 7800,
315 W. Main St., Rm #316
Tavares, FL 32778
Phone No. {352} 343~9850
FAX No. {352} 343~9495
Email: [email protected]

Hopefully the issue will be addressed this time. If you can make it please do; the more the merrier.
Thanks,
samalec

 

[sayhill]

Oh no! I was planning on going July 9th and just saw the date changed AGAIN to yesterday. I find it pretty frustrating that they changed the date multiple times. Did anyone go to the meeting and if so, how did it go?

 

[samalec]

I did go. There was a presentation on the options and they asked me for some input. 3 of the 5 commissioners seem very in favor of it. Connor and Sullivan are the two who seem to be against it (with Connor being more dug in). Sullivan is afraid that it will cause more work (and cost) for code enforcement officials and Connor thinks that chickens need to stay in agriculturally zoned areas and areas with large lot sizes (1+ acres) because they would be a nuisance if they were in more populated areas. The board seems agreed that subdivisions with HOA's and whatnot can develop their own rules.
They are having the lady who gave the presentation (she works for Lake County) develop a specific ordinance so they can wrangle over the exact wording. They will be looking at this again (and hopefully come to a decision) sometime this fall.

Not exactly what I was hoping for, but, right now, anything is better than nothing.

 

[floridagirl13]

Chiming in for S. Lake County! Couple interesting links:

Article on county commissioners discussing chicken ordinances in central FL
http://touch.orlandosentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-76357120/

Link to FL's Right to farm act
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes...ing=&URL=0800-0899/0823/Sections/0823.14.html

Hope this can be useful in our fight for the right to own chickens!

 

[floridagirl13]

I'm just wondering, is the county against slaughtering for sanitary reasons or is there more to it than that? I can understand that for folks within city limits but what about us folks in rural areas?

I just don't see how they can say that they are all for self sufficiency if having birds for meat is a big fat No-No...