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<br />City Planner Martin asked if they should reduce the 75-foot setback for stables to match that of <br />other accessory structures, which is a minimum of five-foot setbacks in the side or rear of the <br />property. <br /> <br />Councilmember Stewart asked how this change would benefit the City or residents. <br /> <br />City Planner Martin explained that the current setback requirements can be prohibitive based on <br />different lot layouts. He said this change would make things more flexible for residents with <br />uniquely shaped lots. <br /> <br />Councilmember Stewart said that she believes the 75-foot setback is excessive; however, she <br />thinks a five-foot setback would be too small and could lead to an increase in neighbor complaints. <br /> <br />City Planner Martin explained that they currently do not have a setback requirement for roaming <br />area fences, so horses and other animals would be able to roam all the way up to the fence line, <br />which could also be at the property line. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht asked if chicken coops have a setback requirement. <br /> <br />City Planner Martin said this is also a 75-foot. He added that there is also a setback requirement <br />of 50 feet from places of human habitation. <br /> <br />Councilmember Buscher asked if there was a health reason that these structures are not allowed <br />within 50 feet of human habitation. <br /> <br />City Planner Martin shared that in his research, this seems to be a requirement that has been in <br />place since the 1970s. <br /> <br />Councilmember Stewart said she hesitates to reduce this setback requirement, as a neighbor could <br />end up putting their chicken coop or other structure at their property line, which could be very <br />close to their neighbor’s house. <br /> <br />City Planner Martin shared that in his experience, he has seen that people like to keep their chicken <br />coops close to their house to use their house to block wind and keep their chickens farther away <br />from predators. He noted that they could work on some language around setback requirements <br />from neighboring houses. He added that with the Zoning Code amendments made a few years ago, <br />any structure under 200 square feet no longer requires a building permit, and this would include <br />most chicken coops. He said this will be more educational as they will not be inspecting every <br />chicken coop that is being built. <br /> <br />The consensus of the Council was to keep the roaming fence setback the same and reduce the <br />stable and chicken coop setback to match the rest of the accessory structure setback requirements, <br />and reduce the setback requirement from human habitation to ten feet from the property owner's <br />home and 20 feet from a neighboring home. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session / November 25, 2025 <br />Page 6 of 9 <br /> <br />