UPDATE: Potbelly Pigs In Plymouth?

Missy the potbelly pig is looking for a home. Right now she's in southern Minnesota and in foster care.

Plymouth residents Justin Chamberlain-Dupree and Nicole Wankel were hoping to adopt Missy to be part of their home, but city zoning code only allows potbelly pigs (seen as farm animals) to be in areas zoned future redistricted development. Unfortunately Chamberlain-Dupree and Wankel do not live in that type of zoned area.

The couple decided to go through the appeal process for reclassifying potbelly pigs as a domestic animal instead of a farm animal at the March 17 council meeting. They argued that not only does the city's zoning ordinance not specifically name potbelly pigs as farm animals, but that the U.S. Department of Agriculture does not define potbelly pigs as farm animals.

Council member disagreed with the idea of potbelly pigs being defined as domestic animals like dogs and cats.

"I've spent a fair amount of time on a farm," said Councilmember Ginny Black. "A pig is a pig, no matter the name you give it."

The couple wanted to adopt the pig to help train it to assist in therapy of troubled youth and adults.

Ultimately, the zoning ordinance was amended to not allow potbelly pigs in Plymouth unless you live in a future redistricted development area, which is mostly in the northwest area of the city right now. The council unanimously voted to not allow the Plymouth residents to have potbelly pigs at their two-story home only five minutes from City Hall.

The main reason for the denial which the council agreed on was if the city allowed potbelly pigs, the animal would not be appropriate for all areas of the city.

"Once we allow it citywide I really don’t think neighbors would appreciate that," Black said.

Councilmember Bob Stein said that he was also concerned with a pig becoming big in size, even though Chamberlain-Dupree said that potbelly pigs usually top out around 100 pounds.

"But like any animal they could become fat," he said.

Chamberlain-Dupree suggested that restrictions could be made on the size of potbelly pig people could keep, the number of pigs someone could keep and what its enviornment would have to be like.

But council members believed enforcement of such restrictions would be difficult.

"In regards to having weight requirements and that, it would be a problem for us to enforce that," said Councilmember Tim Bildsoe. "I'm not going to ask someone to keep thehir pigs on a diet, that’d be an issue and I don’t think it's appropriate in some neighborhoods to have them as more and more homes are closer to each other."

The variety of housing stock in the city would make it difficult to have the animal in such a suburban setting, said Mayor Kelli Slavik.

Everyone on the council and staff agreed that the residents did a great job bringing information and their request forward. The residents appreciated the concerns raised by city staff and the council and were impressed with the process bring their appeal forward.

The only city nearby that specifically addresses potbelly pigs is Maple Grove, which considers it as part of the hog family. The animal is only allowed on properties that are 1.5 acres or more in that city, said Plymouth Planning Manager Barb Thomson.

After the council made its decision, Chamberlain-Dupree and Wankel said that because they are not able to adopt and bring Missy to their Plymouth home the logistics for helping get her trained to be a therapy pet is unlikely.

"We wouldn't be able to do it because of the schedule to drive her back and forth and she would need to  be part of a permanent home so if someone were to take this on they'd have to know that," Wankel said.

Both residents said when they first approached the city about this, they asked if the council could make decisions on an individual basis. But Thomson said that would not be fair to all who approached the council and city about having a potbelly pig outside a future redistricted develpment zone.

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