Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
Gates is working on a nuisance ordinance that will take into consideration a wide range of behaviors and issues, including livestock on your property, late-night noise and perhaps even leashing of cats.
The City Council discussed the measure at its April 7 meeting and also will do so on April 21. In addition, a technical advisory committee has been set up to look at the ordinance. The panel includes one councilor, city recorder Traci Archer and two members of the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments. It meets again April 28.
The city is looking at its nuisance ordinance as part of a larger review of city codes.
Councilor Lisa McCall is using social media to make sure constituents are kept up to date on the evolving status of the ordinance. McCall noted that the council came out of its discussion and planning phase of the ordinance not allowing any exemption for cats to roam free, which opens up the possibility of cats being required to remain indoors, on a leash or in the cat equivalent of a “dog run.”
Other issues that are on the table for discussion, according to McCall’s posts:
• What items – vehicles, equipment, etc. – you can have on your property and how they must be stored.
• Rules on how long an “inoperable” vehicle can be stored on your property.
• Noise levels and the hours in which they must be limited, with noise referring to music, power equipment, tools and engine sounds.
• Livestock in town, with the current version of the ordinance allowing four chickens only (no roosters and no livestock, including goats) on lots of less than an acre. Pot-bellied pigs and other livestock would be limited to a maximum of four animals per acre on larger lots.
McCall urged residents who want more information to pick up a copy of the ordinance at City Hall, 101 E. Sorbin St.
