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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

Italic emphasis mine, Wes

DAILY HERALD (Provo, Utah) 24 August 06 Mapleton to determine fate of snake business (Natalie Evans)
After investing $600,000 in property in Mapleton and applying for what they thought were the needed licenses, the fate of the Sutherland family's snake breeding business is in the hands of city's Planning Commission.
The Mapleton city attorney told the City Council on Wednesday that the family must get a condition use permit before their hundreds of snakes can slither into their new barn on nearly 3 acres in the city. The ball pythons still are in California, where the Sutherlands lived before recently moving to Mapleton. The hearing on the permit is set for Sept. 21.
The council asked the city attorney to review the situation after it was brought to the council's attention Aug. 16.
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. Sutherland held a meeting Wednesday evening so residents could ask questions about the business. He sells the snakes online and mails them to their destinations via a shipping business.
The Sutherlands' neighbors are upset because they said they didn't know about the snakes until they thought it almost seemed too late.
"Why they couldn't come out and tell me months ago when the building first started is beyond me," Richard Howell said. He would be next door to the snake farm.
Sutherland said there was no need to inform his neighbors, and that the snakes won't be a problem.
"If we weren't here today, you would never even know what I'm doing here," he said, referring to smell and escaping snakes. Residents said they aren't convinced that the snakes can't escape -- and they don't want to come face to face with a python.
"Say it's a horror movie and the snakes get out. That's the worse scenario," resident Gwen Warren said. She said the most likely scenario is a decrease in property value. Surrounding property is worth more than $300,000.
Mayor Jim Brady said a conditional use permit for Mapleton's agricultural zone allows residents to raise snakes as pets. It also states that residents can breed animals.
"You can breed your rabbits, chickens and goats, and you can also breed reptiles," he said.
He said the pythons could be classified as exotic pets, not reptiles. In that case, the city's law states that there can only be one exotic pet per half acre of property, so the Sutherlands' 2.7 acres could house five snakes.
But the Sutherlands plan on having more than five snakes. Last week, Colette Sutherland said they had 30 clutches of eggs hatch on their farm last year. Each clutch hatches six or seven snakes, so that's about 200 hundred snakes.
The Sutherlands' former neighbors in California were at the meeting to show support for them. Edward Christensen, of Elk Ridge, has been in the Sutherlands' snake facilities.
At first, he said he felt the same way as the residents when he heard about the farm.
"I know when you hear about snakes in a building, you kind of get these visions of 'Oh crap, there's snakes crawling around all over the place.' "
However, entering the barns changed his mind.
"When you see the type of operation that they have, your fears just go away," he said, noting that he has no problem bringing his children into the snake barn. Mapleton resident and zoologist Hal Black said that there is no need to worry about the snakes as a danger.
"The idea that there's some potential danger here to me is sort of funny," he said, noting that ball pythons are scared of people.
Mapleton to determine fate of snake business