Mapleton To Determine Fate Of Snake Business
NATALIE EVANS - Daily Herald
After investing $600,000 in property in Mapleton, Utah 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.
Reporter Natalie Evans is available at 801-344-2561.
You can submit a letter to the newspaper here.
Submit your thoughts to the Planning and Zoning Office, at Mapleton City, 35 East Maple Street, Mapleton, UT 84664, or by phone, (801) 489-6138.
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