Community Corner

City Council Preview: Bye, Bunnies?

Gilroy City Council will vote on an ordinance to limit rabbits within city limits, among other actions.

Soon Gilroy may enact stricter rules for rabbits within city limits. 

A Gilroy City Council meeting at 6 p.m. Monday will discuss whether to limit rabbits within the city. Now, says the council in an agenda of the event, the language of a previous ordinance restricting chickens and rabbits in city limits is ambiguous.

“City regulation of rabbits is not as clear as the regulation of chickens,” the council wrote. “Section 4 20 b of Article III prohibits rabbit ranches from locating in any zoning district other than agriculture. However, the ordinance is silent regarding the keeping of rabbits that are not part of a rabbit ranch in the city.”

The city is calling for stricter regulation of rabbits, potentially restricting the ways or areas in which they can be kept. 

The city will also vote on a couple of environmental ordinances. For one, the council will decide whether to pass an ordinance advocating the use of reusable garbage bags over plastic bags. Unlike other cities, the ordinance will be voluntary instead of a ban that would be enforced.

Also, however, the council is considering an ordinance that would implement a full ban on polystyrene, a non-biodegradable type of plastic, by July 2012.


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