DAILY HERALD (Provo, Utah) 22 September 06 Mapleton council limits snake farm size (Natalie Evans)
It's time to hibernate, and some of Dan Sutherland's pythons will be allowed to come to Mapleton to do it, though probably not enough to make his business work.
The Planning commission decided Thursday that 212 small animals are allowed. The Sutherlands, moving to the city from California to establish a snake farm, can decide on the combination of animals they bring. Dan Sutherland said the number decided on by the commission isn't enough to run a successful business.
The decision was made in a council room so full that lucky residents who found seats first were asked to give them up for senior citizens.
Resident and local real estate agent Grace Huffaker expressed the concern of several residents.
"I say absolutely everybody's property within a half mile radius and those next door will be drastically affected by this snake farm," she said.
Dan Sutherland approached city officials for the third time Thursday about his proposed business. He brought a Provo exotic animal veterinarian, Yoeny Calas-Dobson, and lawyer Randy Spencer of Spencer Fillmore to speak about the health and ordinance issues, respectively.
The debate stemmed from animal limitations. Snakes as wild animals are allowed as one per animal unit. Small animals, such as rabbits are allowed as 36 per unit. Sutherland said, however, that the pythons are exotic animals and wanted a new definition.
Dogs, koala bears, elk and bunnies were all used as examples to set the definition of how many animals are allowed for the property. Spencer asked that the attorney use a USDA animal unit definition of being a cow and her calf, or 1,000 pounds. He said that waste produced by the snake amounts to one pile of cow manure each week.
"I believe that each animal has to be evaluated on their impact on the environment," Spencer said. "A snake does not have the same impact as a bunny."
The commission decided to use the same number as is allowed for rabbits.
The commission did not address that the Sutherlands did not review their business with neighbors, as is a requirement for both a business license and a home business.
"I've heard some people say that they were not upfront," Mapleton Mayor Jim Brady in a meeting beforehand. "From their e-mail contact with the city it appears they were upfront, at least with the city planner."
Brady said that e-mails and applications between the city and now-resigned city planner Matt Evans started in January.
The baby snakes and mice are not included in the number until the snakes are six months old and the mice are 30 days old.
The Sutherlands' business in California has 1,100 snakes to breed, which have up to 2,000 babies each year. Two barns, one for rodents and one for snakes are built almost to completion in Mapleton.
Property values, security, traffic, health concerns and smell were all worries from residents.
Sutherland said that no odor comes from the snakes and that charcoal filters will be installed to combat any odor.
In regards to property values, the commission decided to continue the item and review residents concerns.

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/194067/

DESERET MORNING NEWS (Salt Lake City, Utah) 22 September 06 Snake foes strike back - Residents demand planners block farm (Jeremy Twitchell)
Mapleton: Living in a Utah County town where farms, barns and animals still dot the landscape between rows of new homes, Mapleton residents are used to odors of all sorts.
But there is a new smell in town. And this one has people here taking a stand — it's the smell of fear.
A "snake farm" proposed by Mapleton newcomers Dan and Colette Sutherland has raised the ire of neighbors, who on Thursday asked the Planning Commission to deny the Sutherlands' request for the permit necessary to operate the business.
The brouhaha over the ball pythons has raged for more than a month, and at previous city meetings, folks have said they don't want the increased traffic the farm could bring and question whether the operation violates zoning rules.
Most of the objections, however, have centered on the prospect of having dozens, potentially hundreds, of snakes in the middle of their neighborhood.
At a public hearing regarding the issue Thursday night, the Mapleton City Planning Commission considered the Sutherlands' application for a conditional use permit to breed and raise the snakes at their barn in Mapleton.
The oft-contentious meeting, which lasted more than three hours, had not reached a resolution as of press time. More than 200 residents crammed into the City Council chambers and overflow area. Nine spoke during the public comment session and expressed strong objection to the Sutherlands' application.
The commission determined that snake breeding and rodent breeding (for the purpose of feeding the reptiles) were both allowable under the city's conditional uses standards.
Commission members also decided that if given final approval, the Sutherlands would be able to have up to 212 snakes and 212 rodents on the property. Still under discussion at press time was whether the permit would actually be issued and what specific conditions would apply if it is approved.
Aside from the name, there's nothing unusual about ophidiaphobia, the technical name for the fear of snakes. According to a 1999 Harris Poll, fear of snakes is the most common phobia among adults in America, with 36 percent of respondents saying they were "very afraid" of the slithering reptiles.
But what is it about snakes that prompts such a visceral reaction? They are rarely dangerous — only 10 percent of the snakes found in the United States are poisonous, and of the 8,000 reported snake bites each year in the nation, 15 or fewer are fatal, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. More people die from bee stings.
Some researchers have suggested the widespread fear of snakes is the product of evolution; that the ancestors of humans developed in a world where snakes and reptiles posed a very real threat, and the fear of such creatures has ingrained itself on the human subconscious.
Lynne Isbell, an anthropology professor at the University of California-Davis, has hypothesized that competition with snakes and reptiles drove the early stages of development for early monkeys and apes. That competition shaped the way primates — and later humans — developed their eyesight, which became highly capable of discerning colors as it learned to detect colorful venomous snakes.
The process also left a strong connection between eyesight and the part of the brain that senses fear, which could explain why people have such a strong fear of the serpents.
"I never knew how strong a reaction people had," Isbell said. "I mean I knew it intellectually ... but with all this publicity since the hypothesis came out, it's been interesting, because who cares about primate development? But if you mention snakes alongside it, people react."
Other researchers have suggested that religious beliefs are the reason people fear snakes, particularly in Christian religions where snakes and serpents are frequently used as symbols of the devil and evil. Still others say it's the result of upbringing or a traumatic childhood experience.
"Most people we've seen are afraid of snakes because they had a brother or a friend who caught one at some point and ran around shoving it in their face," said James Dix, operator of Reptile Rescue Service in Salt Lake County.
Dix said the snakes in question, ball pythons, are docile and too small (they rarely grow larger than 4 feet) to hurt a human. He said he uses them in outreach programs that visit kindergarten classes because they are so harmless.
"When you're a beginning herper (snake breeder), this is the first snake you learn to work with," he said. "It's the tamest and most docile exotic snake there is ... there is no threat in this, that's the bottom line."
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650192756,00.html

DESERET MORNING NEWS (Salt Lake City, Utah) 21 September 06 Snake breeders caged? Mapleton meeting tonight to decide on python plans (Jeremy Twitchell)
Mapleton: When they moved from California in August, Dan and Colette Sutherland thought they had the necessary permits to relocate their online ball python breeding business to a barn by their new home.
Deseret Morning News graphic After neighbors heard about the Sutherlands' plans, however, many in the community began to fiercely protest the commercial nature of the Sutherlands' operation, as well as its slithering product. City officials agreed to look into whether the snake-breeding operation can, indeed, legally operate within the city.
The fate of the proposed snake farm that has caused a public outcry in Mapleton will be decided at 7 p.m. tonight by the city's Planning Commission. The meeting will be at the Mapleton Community Center Building, 125 W. Community Center Way
Dan Sutherland said he prepared a packet outlining his understanding of the law, which he submitted to the Planning Commission. "We believe the laws state we can have our reptiles under a conditional-use permit," he said.
He said his operation never caused an issue with neighbors in California. The fact that snakes were on the site did not make selling the home more difficult, he said.
"What we do does not cause a problem," he said. "It never caused a problem in our old neighborhood. ... You can come on our property and never know what's going on."
Some Mapleton officials said they were misled by Sutherlands to believe that they were only hobby breeders — not commercial ones. The Sutherlands maintain they were upfront throughout the process and obtained the necessary building and business permits.
Mapleton City Administrator Robert P. Bradshaw said conditional-use permits are tailored to individual situations. "There is a flexible limit, but it is governed by city ordinances," he said.
The dispute, however, may have exposed a hole in city ordinances that would allow the snake-breeding business. City code allows the Planning Commission to issue a conditional-use permit that allows the property owner to have one animal unit per half-acre.
The Sutherlands have a 2.75 acre plot, allowing for five animal units.
The problem, however, is that city code has not defined how many snakes make up an animal unit. For larger animals, such as cows and horses, two animals count as one animal unit. For smaller animals, such as chickens or pigeons, 36 animals count as one animal unit. Also, the Mapleton code allows 36 animals per unit for rabbits and "similar small animals."
The question now before the Planning Commission is whether snakes fall into the "similar small animals" category, and if not, what standard applies. The commission will also decide how many rodents, if any, the Sutherlands can keep on site for the purpose of feeding the snakes.
If the permit is approved, the commission can set various conditions, including the types of cages the Sutherlands must use as well as other health and sanitary provisions.
Commission members can also table the application and request further information. Or they could rule that the proposed use of the land does not fall under the conditional-use standard and deny the permit outright.
The commission could also direct the Sutherlands to draw up a plan for recovering escaped snakes, although the experience of animal control officers throughout Utah County suggest that's unlikely.
Officers for Spanish Fork, Provo, Orem and Utah County said most snake calls they receive are for wild snakes, and escaped pet snakes are rarely, if ever, a concern. Such calls generally happen once or twice a year, officers said, though in the case of Orem, they are more along the lines of once a decade.
"Every once in a while we get a boa constrictor that escapes, but we usually end up finding it somewhere around the owner's house," said Provo Animal Control Cpl. Mike Ruiz..
"Keeping animals in Mapleton is going to be a very hard thing to do if we don't win," Sutherland said.
And while Sutherland said his family is committed to staying in Mapleton, and he is hoping the commission will recognize his investment in the city and allow him to proceed, he knows it is a muddy issue.
Asked what he thought his chances of winning are, he said, "I have absolutely no idea."
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650192465,00.html

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