We
’re pleased to see that Morgan Hill City Council has taken up
the plight of Frank Dutra’s goats, but frustrated that it’s taking
so long to get them back home.
We’re pleased to see that Morgan Hill City Council has taken up the plight of Frank Dutra’s goats, but frustrated that it’s taking so long to get them back home.
Dutra was forced to remove the five goats, two horses and one mule that called his leased ranch on Diana Avenue home. Dutra has lived on the seven-acre ranch for years and has watched as the once-rural land surrounding him changed from pastures and orchards to single- and multi-family houses. During that time, the land was annexed into the city and shortsighted and unfair livestock regulations were put in place.
Those regulations went unenforced for years. All the while, Dutra cared for his animals that became favorites of most of the neighbors. But recently a couple of unneighborly neighbors complained, and the city told Dutra his beloved animals had to go.
That’s because the city’s livestock ordinance says a maximum of two livestock animals can live on a ranch, no matter how big it is.
The city needs to correct this problem immediately. All ranches within city limits needed to be granted grandfather rights to allow them to keep their current number of animals. And no fee should be associated with that grandfather clause.
Councilman Larry Carr has said he favors a case-by-case approach to ranches with more animals than the current law allows.
We think that’s a misguided approach. After all, the ranches were there before the city slickers moved in.
Is Morgan Hill truly a city where “… we pride ourselves on living in a rural area with animals and open space,” as Mayor Dennis Kennedy said? If so, then our laws should reflect that by honoring those ranches that have operated for years within our city limits.
Second, the city needs to adopt a common sense ordinance to allow a sliding scale of large animals based on the size of the ranch. Santa Clara County offers a good model of an ordinance that’s working well in our region.
We said all this when Frank Dutra was forced to haul his animals away. It’s two months later, and he still doesn’t have his goats back on his ranch.
It’s time to get the notoriously slow wheels of government kicked into a higher gear and get those goats back on Diana Avenue where they belong.
