The final decision on proposed changes to Calgary’s Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw is going to city council.
Instead of changes at the committee level, updates could be made via city council.
On Wednesday afternoon, the city’s community and protective services committee passed administration’s recommendations to update the 12-year-old bylaw.
The proposed changes would allow the chief bylaw officer to determine when a pet is considered “vicious,” a designation currently determined in court. Fines related to animal aggression would be increased. “Nuisance” designations would also be expanded.
Urban hens would be allowed after owners complete a training program and a coop is properly constructed and maintained.
A maximum of six cats and six dogs would be allowed in a house, with special licences allowed for breeders and animal foster homes. A max of six dogs would be allowed per person at an off-leash park.
Beekeeping and pigeon-racing would also be allowed, under special licences.
While hearing from dozens of Calgarians at the committee meeting, two themes emerged for committee chair and Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra: support for beekeeping and urban hens, and concerns about the bylaw addressing dogs and cats.
Ward 11 Coun. Jeromy Farkas attempted a motion to refer the bylaw back to city officials to get clarity on penalties under the bylaw — a motion that was defeated.
Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu expressed concerns about allowing the birds under the bylaw, citing health and cleanliness concerns.
But according to Carra, committee members didn’t want to “dig into” the work to present amendments.
Instead, the committee voted 5-3 in favour of passing the recommendations on to council for a first reading of the bylaw, with amendments to come during the second and third readings.
“Committee members who have specific concerns should do the work between now and council to prepare those concerns as amendments, and they should test council’s will with those amendments,” Carra said.
Carra highlighted a couple of other concerns that were raised by the public: low limits for pet professionals like dogwalkers or breeders and the possibility of non-pet-owning Calgarians wielding bylaw power over those with pets through the complaints process.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi admitted he hasn’t spent much time on the pets and dog parks file, “sometimes called the third rail of municipal politics because you’ll never make anyone happy,” but did say he hoped changes to the bylaw builds on the city’s reputation of handling pets responsibly.
“People actually call it the Calgary model, and I want to make sure that we’re not breaking that as we try to improve it,” the mayor said.