Yea or neigh

By JOHN STANG

The Daily Inter Lake

Kalispell deliberates horses in city limits

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people." - W.C. Fields

A horse is a horse, of course, of course.

And Kalispell can't house a horse, of course.

That is, of course, unless the horse is in a law to be considered.

The fate of Kalispell horses hangs in the balance pending a tentatively scheduled April 2 City Council vote on whether to allow horses to live within the town.

The vote will be on whether a city ban on horses should be lifted.

This is prompted by the city steadily annexing surrounding lands, where some lots likely will be homes to horses and other livestock.

Originally, city officials recommended lifting Kalispell's ban on horses, cattle, mules, sheep, goats, buffalo and pigs.

Last week, the Kalispell Planning Board recommended that the bans on buffalo and cattle be kept in place.

Then the planning staff recommended Monday against allowing mules, sheep, goats and pigs within the city.

Allowing those animals would create a "Pandora's Box" of control problems, Planning Director Tom Jentz said.

So the proposed legal change is limited to lifting the ban on horses, and

allowing them to live inside the city at a density of no more than one animal per acre of fenced pasture. If a house is on that acre, that acre cannot count toward a horse's pasturable quota.

The proposed change is prompted by people asking the Kalispell Planning Department about whether livestock is allowed in the city, and by the city's likelihood of annexing areas in which people own horses and other livestock.

On Monday, the council was split on the issue, with neither having a clear majority.

"I don't see what the city gains by this. I have visions of us sitting and debating on the smell of horse manure," Council member Randy Kenyon said.

Council member Hank Olson agreed.

"It's pretty simple. If you don't allow it, you don't worry about it," Olson said.

And council member Bob Hafferman added: "Big animals need lots of room to roam. … We live in the city. If you want animals of the large type, you need to make arrangements in the county."

On the other hand, Mayor Pam Kennedy and council members Duane Larson and Wayne Saverud said that some nearby rural lands already have horses on them.

"I know that's a big thing for people about to be annexed," Larson said.

As Kalispell grows, it will inevitably partly or completely surround rural areas that might be homes to horses, Kennedy, Larson and Saverud said. Also, there is political and environmental pressure to wean rural areas close to Kalispell away from septic tanks and switch them to sewer systems, which is a major step toward eventual annexation.

Saverud suggested that annexed horse owners be allowed keep their animals, with no new horses allowed.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com

Meanwhile, horses - especially in Montana - have stronger, more intimate bonds with their owners than other livestock do.