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Ordinance No. 2025-008CC CLERWOIT CITY OF CLERMONT �.� ORDINANCE NO.2025-008 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF CLERMONT, LAKE COUNTY, FLORIDA, AMENDING CHAPTER 6 ANIMALS; SECTION 645 LIVESTOCK PROHIBITED; EXCEPTION AND 6-46 NUMBER OF ANIMALS PERMITTED; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICT, SEVERABILITY, CODIFICATION, THE ADMINISTRATIVE CORRECTION OF SCRIVENERS ERROR, PUBLICATION AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS the citizens have expressed the desire to raise and keep chickens within their property within the City limits of Clermont; and WHEREAS the City Council has directed staff to draft an ordinance allowing the raising and keeping of chickens within the City limits, WHEREAS under the current Code of Ordinances, chickens are considered livestock and are prohibited within the City, and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Clermont shall amend the Land Development Code, Chapter 6, "Animals", Article II "Domestic Animals and Wildlife", Section 645 "Livestock prohibited; exception"; and Section 6-46 "Number of animals permitted"; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Clermont, that Chapter 6, "Animals", Article II "Domestic Animals and Wildlife", Section 6-45 "Livestock prohibited; exception"; and Section 6-46 "Number of animals permitted" of the Clermont Code of Ordinances shall be amended to make changes, as set forth in the following amendments shown in Section 2. SECTION 1: AUTHORITY The City Council of the City of Clermont has the authority to adopt this Ordinance pursuant to Article VIII of the Constitution of the State of Florida and Chapter 163 and 166, Florida Statutes. SECTION 2: Chapter 6, "Animals", Article II "Domestic Animals and Wildlife", Section 6-45 "Livestock prohibited; exception'; and Section 6-46 "Number of animals permitted" of the Land Development Code of the City of Clermont is hereby amended to read as follows (note strikethrough indicates removed words and underlined indicates added): Sec. 645. Livestock prohibited; exception. It shall be unlawful to keep any livestock upon any property within the city limits, except where a conditional use permit, authorizing livestock, is granted by the city council or if the property owner can demonstrate the owner complies with the urban backyard chicken regulations below. (a) Intent. The intent of this section is to establish and implement an urban backyard chicken program allowing residents to keep or raise chickens on a developed and occupied detached single-family properties subject to the terms and conditions of this section. CITY OF CLERMONT ALE «C ORDINANCE NO.2025-008 (b) General Regulations. (1) For the purpose of this section, the term "chicken" refers to female chickens only (i.e., hens). (2) The maximum number of chickens per property will be 5 hens. (3) The keeping of roosters within any zoning district within the city is prohibited. Any chicken that crows shall be deemed a rooster for the purposes of this Code. (4) This section does not authorize persons to violate applicable restrictive covenants and homeowners' association rules and regulations. The city does not police or enforce private restrictive covenants and homeowners' association rules and regulations. Homeowners are solely responsible for compliance with all applicable restrictive covenants and homeowners' association rules and regulations. (5) The keeping of chickens shall not be considered a farm, nor is it considered the process of farming, (6) The sale of eggs, meat, feathers, or other chicken products from chickens permitted pursuant to this section is prohibited. (7) Slaughtering of chickens is prohibited on owner's property (8) Chickens must be provided with food and water adequate to sustain a healthy life. (9) Chicken feed must be stored in an enclosed container sufficient to protect it from rodents and other pests. (10) Chickens must never be allowed to run free without direct, personal supervision: and in such cases, only in owner's fenced -in yard. (11) The property owner shall register with the City. (c) Chicken coop and chicken run. (1) A chicken coop is required in order to maintain chickens on anyproperty pursuant to section this section. A chicken run may be provided, at the owner's discretion. A chicken coop must be of durable build, must be securely anchored to the wound, and must provide secure housing that is properly ventilated to house and protect the chickens from the elements and predatory animals. (2) The chicken coon and associated chicken run shall be limited in size and placement as follows: a. Any structure built for the housing or exercise of chickens shall be kept a minimum of 20 feet from any neighboring residential dwelling and a minimum of five feet from anypropertv line. b. Chicken coops and chicken runs shall be located in the rear yard. No coop or run shall be allowed in any front or side yard. c. Chicken coops must provide a minimum of four square feet per chicken and be of sufficient size to permit free movement of the chickens. The coop may not be taller than six feet, measured from the natural wade, and must be easily accessed for cleaning and maintenance. d. Chicken coops must be kept clean and free from debris and waste. e. Chicken runs shall be entirely fenced in and shall be no larger than 100 square feet. (d) Nuisance. 1) Chickens must be removed after three violations of this Code for three separate events, as determined b the City's Code Enforcement Board or Special Magistrate. (2) Chickens shall not run free or be found at large and shall not damage property or deposit excretory matter upon the property belonging to anyone other than their owner. (3) Chicken coops and run enclosures must be kept in a manner that does not create a nuisance for neighbors, either by noise, odor, or accumulation of flies, rodents, or other pests. (4) Removed excrement or other wastes shall be kept in airtight containers until properly disposed S, CITY OF CLERMONT �LEROORDINANCE NO.2025-008 (e) Expiration The urban backyard chicken program will expire on February 11 2027 unless extended by City Council. Sec. 6-46. Number of animals permitted. It shall be unlawful for anyone who resides in the city to harbor more than five animals over the age of four months at any one time, except where a conditional use permit, authorizing keeping of a greater number of animals, is granted by the city council. Chickens as allowed under Section 6-45, is not considered in this count. SECTION 3: CONFLICT All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with any of the provisions of this Ordinance are hereby repealed. SECTION 4: SEVERABILITY If any portion of this Ordinance is declared invalid, the invalidated portion shall be severed from the remainder of the Ordinance, and the remainder of the Ordinance shall continue in full force and effect as if enacted without the invalidated portion, except in cases where such continued validity of the remainder would clearly and without doubt contradict or frustrate the intent of the Ordinance as a whole. SECTION 5: CODIFICATION The text of Section 2 of this Ordinance shall be codified as a part of the Clermont City Code. The codifier is authorized to make editorial changes not effecting the substance of this Ordinance by the substitution of "Article" for "Ordinance", "Section" for "Paragraph", or otherwise to take such editorial license. SECTION 6: ADMINISTRATIVE CORRECTION OF SCRIVENERS ERROR Regardless of whether such inclusion in the Code as described in Section 5 is accomplished, sections of the Ordinance may be re -numbered or re -lettered and the correction of typographical and/or scrivener's errors which do not affect the intent may be authorized by the City Manager or designee, without need of public hearing, by filing a corrected or re -codified copy of same with the City Clerk. SECTION 7: PUBLICATION AND EFFECTIVE DATE This Ordinance shall be published as provided by law and it shall become law and shall take effect immediately upon its Second Reading and Final Passage. 6' Cl-ER ONT CITY OF CLERMONT ORDINANCE NO.2025-008 PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Clermont, Lake County, Florida on this 1 lth day of February, 2025. CITY OF CLERMONT Tim Murry, Mayor ATTEST: Tracy Ackroyd Howe, MMC City Clerk Approved as to form and legality: 4w-/j Christian W. Wau , City Attorney