City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: JUNE 4, 2024
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: CHERAN IVERY, CITY ATTORNEY
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Introduction and First Reading. Consideration. Passage on First Reading of an Ordinance to amend and reordain Section 5-7-57 (LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF DOGS AND CATS KEPT PER DWELLING UNIT) Chapter 7 (ANIMALS AND FOWL) of Title 5 (TRANSPORTATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES), of the Code of the City of Alexandria, Virginia, 1981, as amended.
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ISSUE: Consideration of an ordinance to amend Chapter 7 of Title 5 of the Code of the City of Alexandria, the Animals and Fowl Ordinance, to increase the limit on the number of dogs per dwelling unit from three (3) to five (5).
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council pass on first reading and set for public hearing, second reading and final passage on June 15, 2024, an ordinance (Attachment 1) to increase the limit on the number of dogs per dwelling unit.
BACKGROUND: The current ordinance limiting the number of dogs and cats per dwelling unit in the City was enacted in 1995, to address a contemporaneous problem of an increased number of rabies exposures and feline disease across an unruly feral cat population within the City. The limit to the number of dogs was codified to reflect then-existing limits within the Zoning Ordinance. In December of 2023, City residents contacted City Council requesting a change to the limit of the number of dogs permitted per dwelling unit in the City. The current limit to the number of dogs is three (3).
DISCUSSION: Previously, the Zoning Ordinance contained a definition of a kennel, which was a lot or premises on which four or more dogs, more than four (4) months of age, are kept or maintained for any purpose. This was removed from the Zoning Ordinance in 2016; but the prohibition on the limit to the number of dogs in the Animal C...
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