KUTV (Salt Lake City, Utah) 24 August 06 Snakes In The Suburbs? Neighbors Fear Python Farm

Mapleton: A public meeting was cut short when tempers rose over Dan and Colette Sutherland's plan to move their online ball python breeding business to Mapleton.

Dan Sutherland held an informational meeting at the City Building on Wednesday but was unable to finish his presentation as tempers flared on both sides.

"If you're going to bring snakes here, it's going to be over my dead body," one woman shouted as she stormed out of the meeting.

The issue remains unresolved as the city attorney has said Sutherland will need a conditional-use permit.

The planning commission will consider the permit application at its Sept. 21 meeting.

Residents objected to a commercial enterprise in their neighborhood, but mostly they expressed fear of the snakes - and for their own property values.

"I don't think any of us care about the UPS truck," resident Gwen Warren said. "I'm concerned about the snakes getting out."

Warren said that would be the worst scenario, but the most likely scenario is a decrease in property value.

Dan Sutherland said the couple has never had a snake escape in 16 years of business.

Edward Christensen, who built the Sutherlands' current facility near Palmdale, Calif., and now lives in nearby Elk Ridge, said he dislikes snakes as much as anyone, but vouched for the Sutherlands' operation and their new facility.

"I saw their facility, how meticulous they are," he said. "They're very professional...and I have no fears putting my kids in their house because (the snakes) don't get out."

Some residents and city employees have accused the Sutherlands of being dishonest in the process of applying for permits, which Dan Sutherland denied.

"Our hard part was reading in the paper that we were dishonest and that we were underhanded in this, because we weren't," he said.

After the meeting's abrupt end, city officials invited everyone to move into the City Council meeting and discuss the issue with Mayor James Brady, who said the Sutherlands did all they were asked to do.

"From my knowledge and from the documents I've seen, the Sutherlands have complied with what was requested of them in applying for a building permit and a home occupancy license," Brady said.

The Sutherlands say they have spent $600,000 to relocate to Mapleton. Dan Sutherland has a business license for his commercial snake farm and has built two barns - one for ball pythons and one for the rodents to feed them - on their three-acre site.

The Sutherlands sell the snakes online and ship them to their destinations,

While the matter remains in limbo, Colette Sutherland will stay in California to run the business, and Dan Sutherland will stay in the family's new home with their four children, who began attending school In Mapleton this week.

"We made this move as a family, but now our family is split up," he said.
Neighbors Fear Python Farm

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