City Council Talks Farm Animals

At Thursday night’s meeting, the council took the first step to approve an amendment to the animal control ordinance. The amendment would clarify the definition of farm animals and where they are allowed to be kept in the city.

The new section of the ordinance reads, “The keeping of farm animals, cattle, swine, sheep, horses, goats, and poultry, is permissible only in agricultural zoning districts where and as may be permitted pursuant to applicable zoning regulations.”

Public Relations Director Tom Drabelle said the ordinance is being amended to match language found in other parts of the city code. 

“It’s putting our animal control code in line with our zoning code, basically,” Drabelle said.

Drabelle said, as of right now, the zoning code is more stringent against allowing farm animals in non-agricultural zones than the animal control ordinance. 

In recent months, the city of St. Charles has had many debates on whether to allow residents to keep  as pets. O'Fallon City Administrator Keith Riesberg said the ordinance was not brought up because residents are violating the animal ordinance or any reason other than that it is a routine review.

“It was something that we knew was on our list to clean up, so we’re just trying to bring that forward now,” Riesberg said.