We need your support before April 17th!

Ingham Country residents, if you support this issue, please write to your county commissioner today!

Commissioner Todd Tennis will be presenting a revised draft of the urban dairy goat ordinance to the Law & Courts Committee of the Board of County Commissioners on April 17, 2014.

We need your support now! Please email or write your commissioners to let  them know that you support urban dairy goats in Ingham County. Visit our Show Your Support page to find your commissioner and to get help with writing your letter.

Please visit our Facebook group for more information about this issue.

What happended in 2013

The issue of urban dairy goats was back before the Ingham County Animal Control Advisory Board at their meeting on January 29, 2013, which received some local press. Commissioner Todd Tennis decided to prepare a draft ordinance for the March 25th meeting.

The Animal Control Advisory Board recommended Commissioner Tennis' draft ordinance at their meeting on March 25, 2013.

This group met several times between April - December 2013 to discuss revisions to the draft ordinance, including minimum space for goats, how to manage waste, requiring at least two goats, and exempting goats under 12 weeks of age from minimum numbers of goats allowed.

A Bit of a Set Back...

So there has been a bit of a set back. I attended another Animal Control Advisory Board meeting last night and a couple of issues have arisen.

1) The USDA (or was it the MDA?) is in the process of changing a regulation in Michigan that requires all livestock to have identification ear tags (and not just animals being imported into Michigan) in order to keep records on disease such as scrapie (the version of mad-cow that goats and sheep can get). In addition, entities such as the Ingham County animal shelter will be required to slaughter any un-tagged goats they pick up. Unlike un-registered dogs, which get impounded and eventually re-homed, goats will get impounded and slaughtered, with no option of re-homing. The animal shelter does not want to be responsible for "disposing" of the animals and also doesn't want to get a bad rap. Having to slaughter someone's untagged pet goat would be a public-relations nightmare! Furthermore, even if we specifically state in our goat ordinance that "ALL GOATS MUST HAVE IDENTIFYING EAR TAGS" a lot of people won't pay attention to the rules...and as a result, their animal could get needlessly slaughtered.

2) The Ingham County Animal Shelter is already under-funded and under-staffed. Allowing any new "critter" in the county will inevitably make more work for them. Regardless of how clearly spelled-out the regulations are in the goat ordinance, many people will obtain goats without ever reading the regulations.  A possible way to "pay-back" the animal shelter for having to deal with goats will be to require a licensing fee (like a dog license).

The plan is to collect more information on the USDA regulation and figure out the issues with the animal shelter and/or licensing fees. Then we will meet with the Animal Control Advisory Board again in late March (they only meet every other month). If the advisory board approves the updated resolution, then we can go to the Law Enforcement Committee to get the resolution passed (hopefully).

Another Meeting Tonight

I will be attending this month's Ingham County Animal Control Shelter Advisory Board meeting tonight. I hear that they will be discussing the goat issue quite a bit...in order to decide if the board will be in support of the proposed goat resolution at the upcoming Ingham County Law Enforcement Committee meeting next week, February 2.

Hope everything goes okay...if nothing else, I think we will be finalizing our version of the resolution (which may involve adding a few things such as the rumored ear tag requirement).

Update- Getting the City Council On-Board

Taking the advice of my contact with the Ingham County commission, I contacted two city council members (one for Lansing, one for East Lansing) on Monday to let them know that some goat legislation may be coming their way (I'm pretty confident at this point that it WILL be coming their way). I'm thrilled to have heard back from both of them already...and they both sound like they're on-board and maybe even excited about it!

Hypothetical Progress Is Better Than No Progress At All

My contact with the Ingham county commission emailed me today with some updates. He said that he has mentioned the goat proposal to some other commission members. None of them were super enthused about it, but nobody seemed opposed to the idea either. He is planning on discussing the goat issue at the next commission meeting next Tuesday December 13.

He wants to have a resolution written and ready for approval by the Law Enforcement committee in January. It sounds like this was how the chicken ordinance went about (approval by the law enforcement committee was the main thing that had to happen). He said he may want me to make a presentation to this committee similar to the one I did for the Animal Control Advisory Board.

Once the resolution is passed in Ingham County, we still have to get ordinances on the books for each city in Ingham County. He suggested that I contact the city council person for Lansing and East Lansing and give them a heads-up that this resolution may be on its way. I'm a little confused about this because I don't think Lansing added anything to it's municipal code specifically about chickens after the chicken resolution went through in Ingham County (so why do we need to do it for goats?). I'm assuming it's just for more protection from the law and to prevent Lansing from outlawing urban goats if the county adopts a goat ordinance.

Update: Waiting Game

It has only be about a week since I gave my presentation to the Ingham County Animal Control Shelter Advisory Board, so I'm assuming little has happened yet. The next county commission meeting isn't for another week. This would be the first opportunity for the representative from the advisory board to talk to the board of commissioners about my ordinance proposal.

I realize it's a busy time of year for everyone and a lot of people are changing positions or leaving certain board positions, so I'll have to be patient and see what happens in the next month or two.

I want to be persistent and keep in contact we the people who will be representing the goat ordinance, but I want to avoid pestering them much too!

Timeline Update: Advisory Board Meeting

So I attended the Ingham County Animal Control Shelter Advisory board meeting last night. I was surprised because they actually put me on the agenda (so I had more time than a normal public comment). I  handed out my information packets, gave my presentation, and then the board asked me some questions and we had some discussion. It was very informal (plus there were only 6 board members) and they were very nice and enthusiastic.

Overall, I think it went really well! They said that my info packet was really good and thorough (and joked that they should have me write proposals for them in the future). They mentioned that I might have to give my presentation again in the future (I'm assuming they are referring to a county comission meeting).  A representative from the county is on this advisory board and he said that he would be happy to bring this up with the county commission. However, since we're getting towards the end of the year (and a lot of people either switch or end positions around this time of year), he said that he probably wouldn't be able to do anything until January.

I was really pleased with how it went. However, I'm not really sure what to expect at this point. I don't know if I should be expecting someone to contact me or if I will have to keep in touch with them. The next full board county commission meeting is December 13. I guess I'll probably wait until after that before contacting anyone asking for an estimate timeline.

Tonight's the Night

I'll be speaking to the Animal Control Shelter Advisory Board in approximately 30 minutes! Hopefully I'll have some news to report tomorrow morning.  I'm not expecting them to come to an agreement tonight (it's way too early for that), but at least I'll know what the next step is.

My Amendment Proposal

Here's my proposed amendment to the Animal Control Ordinance. I've looked at similar ordinances from other cities and tried to incorporate all the important parts into the template that was used for the Ingham chicken ordinance.

INGHAM COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

ORDINANCE AMENDING THE INGHAM COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL ORDINANCE TO PERMIT KEEPING MINIATURE GOATS IN NON-AGRICULTURAL AREAS

ORDINANCE NO._____

An Ordinance to amend the Ingham County Animal Control Ordinance to permit the keeping of miniature goats in non-agricultural areas of the County.

            Section 2.  Amendment.  Article VIII of the Ingham County Animal Control Ordinance, entitled Prohibition of Livestock or Poultry in Non-Agricultural Areas, is amended to read as follows:

(a)        No livestock or poultry shall be owned, kept, possessed, harbored or kept charge of within the boundaries or any non-agricultural area within Ingham County except as such places are provided for shipping said livestock or poultry.

(b)        ** Section (b), which discusses the keeping of chickens on non-agricultural land has been omitted.

(c)        Notwithstanding paragraph (a), and unless expressly prohibited or regulated by a city, village or township ordinance, or private property restriction, miniature goats may be owned, kept, possessed, harbored, and kept charge of within the boundaries of any non-agricultural area within Ingham County, under the following conditions:

            (i)         No more than three (3) miniature (not more than 100 pounds) goats may be kept at the same time on any one- or two-family residential property, except that nursing offspring may be kept on the property until the age of twelve (12) weeks, and shall not be included in the number of goats allowed;

(ii) All male goats must be neutered;

(iii) Goats must be kept in an enclosure so constructed or repaired as to keep the goats confined on the owner’s property;

(iv) There must be at least one hundred and thirty (130) square feet of land space for each miniature goat as well as adequate shelter space for each goat.

(v)       All feed and other items associated with the keeping of goats that are likely to attract or to become infested with or infected by rats, mice, or other rodents, shall be protected so as to prevent rats, mice, or other rodents from gaining access to or coming into contract with them.

 P.S. sorry the alignment is all over the place! Can't figure out how to fix it in Blogger.

Getting Ready!

This coming Monday night I will be speaking to the Ingham County Animal Control Shelter Advisory Board about the possibility of amending the Animal Control Ordinance to allow for miniature dairy goats on non-agricultural land.

I have made a 10-page handout to distribute to each board member and I will also be giving a short presentation. I'll be posting the handout as soon as I get the formatting finalized.

I posted the table of contents a week ago, if you are interested.

How to Navigate Zoning Laws and Other Ordinances

Here's an example of how to decipher the laws in your area based on my experience with the Ingham County backyard chicken amendment. The same information should hold for dairy goats since both chickens and goats are considered as “livestock”.

Ingham County recently made an amendment to the Animal Control Ordinance legalizing the keeping of backyard poultry on non-agricultural land within the county. However, the ordinance is still somewhat confusing because there is a “small catch” that I have bolded below. The ordinance reads as follows:

“(a)        No livestock or poultry shall be owned, kept, possessed, harbored or kept charge of within the boundaries or any non-agricultural area within Ingham County except as such places are provided for shipping said livestock or poultry.

(b)        Notwithstanding paragraph (a), and unless expressly prohibited or regulated by a city, village or township ordinance, or private property restriction, chickens may be owned, kept, possessed, harbored, and kept charge of within the boundaries of any non-agricultural area within Ingham County...”

So basically, paragraph (a) states the original ordinance. Part (b) was added later to make an exception to part (a) and allow backyard chickens. However, the part about being “expressly prohibited by a city” means that you still can't have chickens in Ingham county if your city prohibits them. Keep in mind that the word “expressly” is defined as “specifically”, “explicitly”, or “with specific intentions”.

To check if your city allows livestock, you can look up the municipal code. Under the zoning section, you will likely see a list of “permitted uses” for each zoning type. For example, the Lansing municipal code lists the following permitted uses for residential zones:

a) A one-family dwelling;

b) A public park and playground;

c) A family day care home.

...And that's it! Can you believe the list is so short?

As you can see, any permutation of “the keeping of livestock” is not listed under the permitted uses. And in theory, you are not allowed to do anything that is not specifically permitted! Of course, you'll also notice that the permitted uses does not mention the keeping of dogs, cats, goldfish, or vegetable gardens either, and obviously those things are not illegal! 

Getting back to my point...to my knowledge there is nowhere in the Lansing municipal code that expressly (there's that word again) prohibits the keeping of chickens (or goats). In fact, the word "chicken" (or "goat") is not found anywhere in the municipal code. Since Lansing does not have a specific chicken-prohibition ordinance, I'm assuming that citizens can defer to the Ingham County ordinance. 

But there's still another catch! If the city of Lansing chooses to create a specific ordinance outlawing urban chickens sometime in the future, the Lansing ordinance will trump the Ingham County ordinance. So at the moment, chicken keeping is legal in Lansing, but this could change in the future. That would really stink if you spent a lot of money on a chicken coop, enclosure, feed, and animals, only to have it outlawed a little ways down the road. However, I can't imagine that outlawing chickens is high on the priority list down at city hall!

If you are completely confused at this point, here's a quick summary:

• Keeping chickens in the city of Lansing is not allowed because keeping livestock is not a permitted use of residential land.
• Ingham County made an ordinance to allow backyard chickens in all of Ingham county, unless a city has a specific ordinance against chickens.
• Since Lansing does not have a specific ordinance set in place to prohibit chickens, we can defer to the country ordinance, which says chickens are legal.
• If the city of Lansing wishes to outlaw chickens, they may do so at any point by creating a specific ordinance. Why would they go to the bother of doing this? I don't know, but it could happen!

P.S. I'm not a lawyer and I may have misinterpreted some of the details, so don't bet your life on what I'm saying!

Timeline Update: Lots of Researching and Writing

I have started drafting an information packet to give to the members of the Ingham County Animal Control Advisory Board at their next meeting (the Monday after Thanksgiving). I haven't decided what kind of presentation I want to give yet. Here are my two options: 1) Lead them all through the information packet, page by page, while they follow along in their own copy, or  2) Give a generalized introduction and proposal, briefly explain the contents of the information packet, and then let them digest all the material on their own.


Here's the current table of contents (but keep in mind that each of these sections will have many subsections):

Contents:

Introduction and Proposal

About Miniature Dairy Goats

Why Would Anyone Want a Goat?

Common Concerns and Misconceptions About Goats

Requirements and Suggested Regulations for Urban Goat Keeping

Other Cities with Urban Goat Ordinances

Seattle, WA

Charlottesville, VA

Denver, CO

Amendment Proposal

Timeline Update: Progress!

Nov 16: I left a voice mail with with the director of Ingham County Animal Control.

Nov 16: Progress! The Animal Control director called me back and she was great! She said that the best place to start the process of legalization would be with the Animal Control Advisory Board, not the County Commission. She said that an advisory board member was the one to introduce the chicken amendment and the chicken amendment went though pretty easily! However goats might be a more difficult "sell" since they are so much bigger. She said that chickens were legalized by making an "exception" to the Animal Control Ordinance, that goats could also be written as an "exception".

She told me who to contact on the the Animal Control Advisory Board and she even offered to call ahead and introduce me! Unfortunately, the Advisory Board only meets ever other month, but the next meeting happens to be November 28! 

She said that I should make handouts of my proposal to give to the board members at the meeting. I should include as much information as possible about keeping goats and explain how urban goats will improve my (and others) quality of life. I should be prepared to discuss the number, size, breed, and gender of goats appropriate for backyard keeping, as well as shelter size, fencing, and sanitation issues. She said I need to be prepared to answer any questions and dispel any fears that the board members may have. She commented that their main concern may likely be sanitation issues and smell. She also said that I should be prepared to mention other cities that have legalized goats and what kinds of regulations they have imposed.

I was excited to hear all the stuff she wants me to discuss, because I have already researched nearly all of it and/or written about it! I've even spent some time re-writing the Animal Control Ordinance to include a goat exception (using the chicken exception as a template).

Nov 16: I called my new contact on the Animal Control Advisory Board. She didn't really have any new information for me, but sounded very welcoming and receptive! She said that I can take up to 7 minutes to present my proposal.

After I give my presentation, the board will discuss privately. I may not hear back until the next Advisory Board meeting in January. I'm not sure if the Advisory Board has direct control over the Animal Control Ordinance or if they will have to submit a proposal to the County Commission. It would be really exciting (and potentially a quick process) if the Advisory Board's decision directly led to an amendment of the Animal Control Ordinance!

Timeline Update

Nov 15: It has been at least 6 days (and as many as 10 days) since I emailed certain city/county officials and other important persons. I have still not heard back from any of the nine people I have contacted regarding legalizing goats in Lansing. NINE people, and not a single response! I guess I'll have to start calling these people up!

Nov 15: I called Ingham County Commission trying to contact the board coordinator, but got someone else instead. She took down my contact information, the names of the 3 commission members I had emailed (and not heard back from), and the basic gist of what I'm trying to do. She said she would relay the information to the board coordinator and have her call me back. She also said that the full board meetings are open to the public and there is time for public comment (3 minutes per person) at the end of the meeting (and possibly also at the beginning of the meeting). The next full board meeting is a week from today, on November 22.

Nov 15: The board coordinator emailed me back quite soon after speaking with the person I talked to on the phone. She suggested that I contact the Animal Control Director and discuss the issue with her first, before speaking at a board meeting. This particular email was CC'd to the Animal Control Director (so hopefully she'll see me coming) and the Ingham County Deputy Controller (I'm not sure why). 

Introducing: The Lansing Urban Goat Movement!

I thought I'd share a post I wrote today for my other blog, Green Zebra Market Garden, to advertise the Lansing Urban Goat Movement:

"To some of my readers, this might sound a little out-there, but I've become quite interested in the possibility of raising miniature dairy goats in my backyard. However, it's currently not legal to do so in my city and county. So I'm here to introduce the Lansing Urban Goat Movement! I decided to start a blog about my path to goat legalization (assuming I'm successful). For all I know, I'll meet a lot of resistance and the "movement" may fizzle out pretty quickly, but it's worth a shot! More than anything, this blog will be a place to keep my thoughts organized and a place to document all the steps I take towards my goal.


Here's a little bit of background about why I'm doing what I'm doing:
 In 2009, my county amended its Animal Control Ordinance to allow for the keeping of backyard chickens on residential-zoned land (hence, the backyard flock you've heard me blog about). As a strong supporter of the local/slow food movement, I'd like to continue the process of legalization of miniature dairy goats. I feel that miniature dairy goats have just as much right in the urban backyard as chickens (or dogs and cats, for that matter) and would make an excellent addition to any urban garden or homestead. The Lansing Urban Goat Movement site will attempt to cover as many pro-urban-goat arguments as possible, as well as dispel the common anti-urban-goat arguments. 




Access to unadulterated, humanely-produced, and reasonably-priced milk is limited for most Lansing residents. Backyard dairy goats take up very little space, are just a quiet and gentle as dogs, and are a logical and economical source of milk for citizens who care where and how their food is produced!"

P.S. I think this post serves as a good summary of the Lansing Urban Goat Movement, so I'm planning on sharing this announcement on several community websites and Facebook groups.

Waiting Game

I'm really tempted to start calling up some of the people who haven't responded to my emails after a whole week. But then I remembered its Veteran's Day, and as city/county officials, these folks probably have the day off from work. I guess I'll wait until Monday before trying to get a hold of them on the phone.

I don't know about the rest of the world, but I always try my best to respond to emails within a couple of days. I understand and respect that the folks I'm contacting are busy people, but I assume that helping and interacting with concerned citizens is part of their job description. Even if they can't (or don't want to) help me, they could at least send a response acknowledging that they received my message.

Plan of Attack

I've been debating whether it is more advantageous to focus my efforts toward the city of Lansing or towards Ingham County. 

To adopt an ordinance for the city of Lansing, I would possibly have to gain the approval of the city council, city commissioners, and the zoning board. However, to get Ingham County to create an ordinance, I think I would only have to get the approval of the Ingham County commissioners. And since there is already a county amendment in place (the 2009 chicken amendment) that could be used as a model for a goat amendment, I think focusing on the county may be the way to go.

Current Timeline

2011

Nov 4: emailed the
 Director of Ingham County Animal Control. I remember contacting someone from Ingham county Animal Control with questions about the legality of backyard chickens and they were helpful and willing to took things up for me. Maybe she will be willing to answer some questions?

Nov 4: emailed a member of the Ingham County Animal Control Shelter Advisory Board. I contacted her back when the chicken amendment was going through and she was helpful.

Nov 6: emailed Jennie Grant, creator of the Goat Justice League based in Seattle. Hopefully she can give me some advice.

Nov 6: emailed the vice-president of the Lansing City Council. I have personally met this person and she should recognize my name. I know she is a supporter of the local food movement because she is also involved in a community farmer's market and other nutrition and gardening education efforts.

 Nov 6: emailed another Lansing City Council member who (according to the Lansing Backyard Poultry Meetup Group) was a supporter of the Lansing backyard chicken ordinance passed in 2009.

Nov 7: I decided to re-write the Ingham County chicken ordinance for miniature goats as I would eventually like to see it. I added a few things important to goat-keeping that didn't apply to chicken-keeping (such as castration of males, and dehorning).

Nov 7: emailed the County Commissioner for my district. This is the first person on the Ingham county commission I have contacted. Since changing the Ingham county ordinance may be simpler than changing the city of Lansing ordinance, I thought it would be a good idea to contact someone form the county. Since I don't personally know any of the commissioners (or know of them), I just choose the commissioner from my district.

Nov 9: I'm getting frustrated because I have yet to hear back from a single person (and I've emailed 6 people so far). I realize it has only been a few days and these are all busy people, but I would at least like somebody to acknowledge that they received my email.

Nov 9: emailed the chairperson of the Ingham County Commissioners.

Nov 9: emailed the vice-chairperson of the Ingham County Commissioners.

Nov 9: emailed the coordinator for the Ingham County Board of Commissioners to ask if county commission meetings are open to the public and if community members are allowed to speak in front of the board. I told her about my proposed amendment to the Animal Control Ordinance and asked if she knew what I should do?