FORKS — The City Council will take public comment tonight on a proposed licensing requirement for large collections of animals and city enforcement measures.
The proposed new chapter in the Forks animal code for the collection of animals was prompted by the city’s lack of rules and enforcement procedures during the controversy over the Olympic Animal Sanctuary.
Sanctuary founder Steve Markwell kept more than 120 dogs in the shelter in Forks until he gave the dogs to a rescue group and dissolved the nonprofit last year.
City officials are preparing for “a similar situation in the future,” said Rod Fleck, city planner and attorney.
The public hearing on the draft chapter of the animal code will be during the City Council meeting at 7:30 tonight in council chambers at City Hall, 500 E. Division St.
Comments also can be submitted in writing at City Hall up through the public hearing.
The proposal can be found at www.forkswashington.org by clicking on the public notice/current issues link.
The earliest the council could consider approval of the new animal collection chapter would be Nov. 24, Fleck said.
The proposal would require a special annual Animal Collector’s License for housing 11 or more canines, felines or birds; wild or hybrid canines; three or more reptiles; or animals or reptiles that are venomous.
Those with traditional farm animals, licensed veterinarians and those whose animals just had litters would be exempt.
The first license would be in effect until the end of the year in which it was issued, with subsequent licences valid for one year.
Annual fees would range from $100 for 11-20 animals to $1,500 for 10 or more hybrids or for venomous snakes.
A collection of 41 or more animals would demand an annual fee of $1,000.
A violation of licensing requirements could lead to a fine of $300 per day after court proceedings.
The city would conduct annual inspections and would have the ability to seize animals.
The proposed new chapter also establishes minimum requirements for space, water and the sanitary needs of the animals, as well as setting other provisions.
Under current Forks law, there is no limit for pet ownership.
No current residents are known to have more animals than the proposed limits, Fleck has said.
Protesters converged on Forks last fall, saying that the dogs in Markwell’s care at the shelter at 1021 Russell Road were living in squalid conditions.
He had founded the sanctuary in 2006 as a home for dogs determined to be dangerous and gained prominence for his efforts in such national media outlets as People magazine and the Los Angeles Times.
Markwell left Forks with 124 dogs in December and turned the dogs over to the New York state-based Guardians of Rescue at a temporary shelter set up on land owned by Rescued Unwanted Furry Friends Foundation in Golden Valley, Ariz.
All of the dogs have been placed in new homes or other sanctuaries.
Markwell returned to Forks in February and by May had moved back into the warehouse where he had housed Olympic Animal Sanctuary dogs.
He said then he had kept some dogs as pets but would not say how many.
In August, he was sentenced to 20 days in jail and a $500 fine for malicious mischief after he kicked the car of a protester at the shelter in Forks on Dec. 12.
His whereabouts are unknown now. A cell phone number for him has been disconnected. Fleck said he did not know where Markwell is.
Markwell was sued in July by the state Attorney General’s Office, which said he failed to register the shelter as a charity and did not provide an accounting of how he had spent the more than $300,000 in donations he collected without registration.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
