By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
With the hopes of providing greater clarity and creating more equity, Whitewater officials have amended an ordinance pertaining to the keeping of horses on residential lots.
After receiving a favorable recommendation from the Plan and Architectural Review Commission, the Common Council on April 19 voted in favor of making tweaks to the document, which is incorporated within the city code.
While the city has long allowed for horse keeping, there are many caveats. Many of those provisions are still in place, although all residentially classified properties are now included in the permissible uses.
Previously, one of the three residential zoning classifications, R-3, was excluded from the list, and that omission recently cropped up at the Plan and Architectural Review Commission. Would-be horse owners need to obtain a conditional-use permit from the city before their four-footed friend can occupy the residential property.
City Attorney Wally McDonell went through the document and made the amendments.
The ordinance has long required a horse owner have a residential lot that is, at a minimum, 2 acres. That provision remains in the amended document.
Other requirements include a requirement that residential properties have at least an acre of open green space for horses to exercise and for the property owner to properly address manure management.
Additionally, so-called containment areas — which include, but are not limited to, barns — must be fully enclosed.
Chris Munz-Pritchard, city planner and neighborhood services director, said it was unlikely any horse-owning property owners within the city limits would have actual stables.
“You have to have a large amount of acreage to have a stable,” Munz-Pritchard said.
The council adopted the changes on a unanimous vote and waived a second reading, meaning the amendment is now in full force.
“I certainly think it’s appropriate to make this change,” council member Lynn Binnie said.
