DESERET MORNING NEWS (Utah) 27 October 06 Snake issue slithers away - Breeder drops Mapleton bid, now looking at Spanish Fork (Jeremy Twitchell)

Mapleton: A proposed snake-breeding business that caused venomous public outrage in Mapleton is now just a memory — and its owner is looking for more appropriate surroundings in a neighboring town.

On Thursday, the day Mapleton Planning Commission was originally scheduled to make a decision on Dan Sutherland's application for a conditional-use permit to run the business from a new home in Mapleton, city administrator Robert Bradshaw instead confirmed that Sutherland had withdrawn his application.

Sutherland has applied for a conditional-use permit in Spanish Fork, hoping to move his business to an industrial park on the city's outskirts.

The Spanish Fork Planning Commission is expected to consider the application at its meeting Wednesday.

"My role in this was to try and mitigate the circumstances and to help (the Sutherlands) find a suitable location that was near to the place they had chosen to settle," Bradshaw said.

When Sutherland, who declined Thursday to comment, moved his family to Mapleton from California earlier this year, he said he'd been led to believe he had all the necessary permits to set up his Internet-based ball python breeding business in two steel barns near his new home.

However, residents became upset when they learned of the nature of his business, and a public outcry soon followed.

City leaders, gaining a more clear understanding of the operation, informed Sutherland that he would need a conditional-use permit before setting up shop. At a Planning Commission meeting last month to consider Sutherland's application, hundreds of residents turned out to hear the proceedings, some of whom voiced their objections.

Many of those objections focused on the business's location — residents objected to the idea of a commercial business in their neighborhood and raised safety concerns over having the snakes so close to homes.

Most of the concerns, however, focused on the impact the operation would have on property values in the area. Commission members placed conditions on Sutherland's application to limit concerns regarding traffic and odor, then placed a limit of 180 snakes on the property.

But when they were unable to satisfactorily address property value concerns, members voted to continue the matter in order to gather further information.

Even though the issue is now dead, Bradshaw said the city will be working to avoid a repeat situation by making certain aspects of its code "a lot more stringent."

"We will be reviewing city ordinances and will be putting forth some proposals for strengthening them," he said.
Snake issue slithers away

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