City tells snake farm to slither away

MAPLETON — After a year of venomous debate over a proposed snake farm, 15 minutes and five votes were all it took to bar 1,500 ball pythons from slithering into a Mapleton neighborhood.

Mapleton City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to support a Planning Commission decision to deny Dan Sutherland a conditional-use permit to move his ball python breeding business to Mapleton from Spanish Fork.

Although public opposition to the farm has been loud and clear, the council ruled the commission did not "bend in response to public clamor" by denying the permit.

When 1,500 writhing snakes move into a residential area, they ruled, there is no way to mitigate the fear-driven damage to neighbors' property values.

"I believe Mr. Sutherland can mitigate every problem brought forth by the Planning Commission, but the one breaker seems to be property value," said council member Brian Wall.

Sutherland and his snakes have spent the past several months in Spanish Fork because initial efforts to set up camp in Mapleton a year ago were met with strident opposition. Sutherland said he invested more than $650,000 to develop the farm's proposed site in Mapleton, though, and he was not about to watch it wriggle away.

Sutherland argued in the Planning Commission hearing that homes near the proposed snake farm, located at 525 S. Main Street, would still sell for full-market value. According to an independent audit report, the houses would just stay on the market longer, he said.

"I don't think we can separate the mental perception or fear of snakes from property value," council member Ann Tolley said. "Why someone wants to live in a particular home has a lot to do with their perception about the area."

The council did not take public comments on the matter. Instead, they made their decision based on 220 pages of transcripts from previous public meetings.

"Our task here, in my view, is to analyze whether the planning commission followed proper procedure," said council member Mike Cobia. "While I may not come to the same conclusion, I think they followed the right procedure."

In August of 2006 the Sutherlands moved their ball python breeding business to the city from California.

The city originally granted the Sutherlands a permit to build two barns, one to house the snakes and one to house the rodents they eat for dinner. But when residents got riled up about the reptiles moving in next door, city officials claimed they were under the impression the Sutherland's snake breeding activity was only a hobby and not a full-scale Internet business.

After nearly three months of hot-tempered public meetings about the issue, Sutherland withdrew his application and made arrangements to take his snakes to Spanish Fork until the issues were resolved.

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