Kenai’s Board of Adjustment granted Kim Garrestson the conditional use permit allowing her to keep her daughter Cristal Barton’s emotional support horse within city limits.
Board member Brian Gabriel says the guidelines of the federal Fair Housing Act weighed “quite a bit into the decision”.
Gabriel: “This is sort of unusual circumstances in the fact that it involves an emotional support animal for her daughter. When you get into those issues you have sort of peripherals [outside] of what would probably be a normal conditional use permit for someone who would want to keep the animal there as a family pet.”
Typically, Kenai City Code requires livestock to be kept on at least a 40,000 square foot property.
Neighbors near Garretson’s 10,000 square foot property voiced concerns last year that the animal’s presence would impact their property value.
To address this, the board attached conditions to the permit that they felt would mitigate any potential damage from waste runoff or odors.
Gabriel: “Daily clean-up of the horse, matting and a paddocks stable area, removal of the horse waste, and I think there was a stump in the yard that needed to be either removed or fenced for the horses safety, hay and bedding in the yard area. So a lot of things were put into the conditions of the permit and were followed today by the appellant.”
The conditional use permit only applies to Barton’s current 35-year-old horse named Major. Gabriel says if the horse had been younger the board may not have agreed but members felt the small space will provide an adequate area for Major.