For decades, the City of Powell has generally limited residents to having no more than two adult pets on their property. But after hearing an emotional plea from a family who wants to keep their four dogs, the Powell City Council has agreed to consider the possibility of doubling that limit.

At their Monday meeting, the council unanimously voted to have the city’s planning and zoning commission analyze the possibility of allowing up to four pets per lot. However, the council didn’t commit to anything beyond having the conversation.

While Councilman Troy Bray said he was “all for” taking a look and making changes to the ordinance, Mayor John Wetzel said the city’s last review of the pet limit brought “total chaos.”

Neighborhood issues

Chris and Heather Pittman moved to Powell last summer, coming from Texas with their children and a quartet of canines.

Chris Pittman’s parents and siblings were born in Powell and Heather’s father lived here until his death last year, they said. So when a plan to move to family property in Basin fell through, “I’m like, ‘Well, Powell’s awesome, let’s move there,’” Chris Pittman told the council.

Heather Pittman said they heard Powell had good schools and friendly people, but “since we have moved here, we’ve had nothing but the cops called on us” by neighbors complaining about their dogs barking. 

Chris Pittman said they’ve purchased training collars and spent roughly $7,000
rebuilding the fence on their 0.16-acre property; Heather Pittman said the barking is actually from other dogs. But regardless of how noisy the animals are, the family is over the city’s two adult pet limit.

“If I had known, I wouldn’t have moved to Powell,” Heather Pittman told the council. “I seriously wish I had thought about what kind of neighborhood and the people that we were going to encounter, because right now, I don’t have a high opinion, except for the school of Powell, with the things that we have encountered with our neighbors and all this.”

One of the officers who responded to the Pittmans’ home reportedly noted they could approach the council about changing the ordinance, and so one of the couple’s daughters put together a pitch.

Allowing four pets instead of two would “better reflect the needs of responsible residents who own multiple dogs while still maintaining community standards,” Leah Pittman wrote to the council ahead of the meeting. By making the change, “the citizens of Powell can keep the dogs, and the shelters will not be filled with the illegal dogs,” she wrote.

In remarks on Monday, Leah Pittman said Cody, Casper and Basin all allow more dogs than Powell does.

“I feel that we do a very responsible job of taking care of our dogs, as is,” she added, “and we would just really like to keep them.”

Heather Pittman wondered if the family could get around the ordinance by having their pets designated as “emotional support animals,” but city officials weren’t sure that would change anything.

Heather Pittman said they have also talked to family and friends about rehoming their dogs, but “nobody can take them.” If the city doesn’t change the ordinance, she suggested the family might have to “put them down.”

“I want one of you, if this is something you can’t pass, to go to my four children and tell them which ones that they have to get rid of, because as a mama, I can’t do this,” Heather Pittman told the council, tearing up.

Saving heartache or causing chaos?

The city is already in the process of revisiting its rules related to exotic pets, after its denial of a permit for a resident’s pet goat last year drew a federal lawsuit; in the face of that litigation, the council reversed course and issued a permit for the Nigerian pygmy goat in January and the city is mulling potential changes to its ordinances.

That case also involves a misunderstanding of the city’s rules: Before moving to Powell from California in 2024, goat owner Venus Bontadelli said a realtor had inaccurately told her family that the animal wouldn’t be a problem.

On Monday, Councilman Steve Lensegrav wondered if it made sense to look at the dog and cat issue alongside the exotic pet rules. However, City Administrator Zack Thorington stressed that they’re different issues. While exotic pets were covered by a permitting process — one that Bontadelli contended was arbitrary — the two pet per dwelling limit is enshrined in the city’s zoning ordinances. (Residents are also able to keep up to six rabbits and four chickens with the proper permits.)

The city’s planning and zoning commission will consider the two-pet limit first and recommend whether any changes should be made. The council will have the final say.

Heather Pittman told the council that upping the limit is “gonna save you a lot of heartache, because there are several people who have more than two dogs in their homes that are …”

“Actually, the last time it was brought up, it was complete chaos,” Mayor Wetzel cut in. “It drug out for six months and it was total chaos. There’s a lot of people that don’t like dogs.”

“And there’s a lot of people that do,” Pittman said.

“We had the council packed with people on both sides,” Wetzel said. “You know, so it’s not as easy as just moving it from two.”

The planning and zoning commission is set to begin discussing the topic at their next meeting, which is set for 7 p.m. on March 30 at city hall.