Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Neighbors at odds over a herpetoculture business' permit application

Fallbrook resident Cathy Johnson has a complaint about her neighbor who is applying for a minor use permit with San Diego County so that he can continue to breed and raise reptiles and amphibians on his property in the Sumac Road neighborhood.

“In 2018, I requested a zoning violation investigation for excessive specialty animals, which resulted in a zoning violation,” Johnson said. “The neighbor was found in violation of A70 residential/agriculture zoning. He is allowed 25 specialty animals of each species, and the county inspector stopped counting at 1,000. There were over 300 reptiles and over 700 feeder rats and mice. Ball python, bearded dragons, various other lizards, Russian tortoise and others. Cockroaches and crickets also.”

She said several of the reptiles have escaped and have been found on neighbors’ properties, including a three-foot iguana, monitor lizards and many Russian tortoises.

“I am coordinating an opposition petition with my neighbors to oppose this project,” Johnson said. “I have been communicating with the county project planner and also notified our 5th District Supervisor, Jim Desmond.

“My fellow neighbors and I do not want a commercial herpetoculture business operating in our residential neighborhood. The neighbor is now applying for a minor use permit for the property that was found in violation and/or another property he owns, operating the same business, that has a common property border.”

But the owner of the business and neighbor under fire, Rommie Huntington, said the push back from Johnson and his neighbors is unfair.

“I supply companion reptiles and amphibians to pet stores,” Huntington said. “Now that many families have gotten past the stigmas and misinformation about reptiles and amphibians, they are the most rapidly growing segment of the companion small animal industry. I have volunteered as a reptile spokesperson at my kids’ school for the past eight years and have been pleasantly surprised at how many families have reptiles and/or amphibians as pets.

“Even with that, there are still those who want to view them negatively; largely due to misinformation or misunderstandings,” he said.

He said he’s lived in peace with his neighbors for decades until recently.

“Ironically, it was only when I was forthcoming with a neighbor I had not met before that all of the problems started to occur,” Huntington said. “Our animals don’t smell and don’t make noise. They are less invasive than other animals the county would allow us to keep on the property and far less intrusive than many other uses for the property that would pass county muster. I had no idea that we would have to obtain a permit, much less a minor use permit, to raise small reptiles on our agricultural property.”

Huntington maintained that he keeps his animals more than 200 feet from the nearest neighbor’s property and more than 500 feet from the “complaining neighbor’s property line.”

“There are only five neighbors who even have visibility to our property with the naked eye,” he said. “Of those five, only one has complained, and I believe that neighbor may have rallied others who otherwise wouldn’t even know what we’re doing.

“When was the last time you heard of a neighbor/neighborhood embracing anything different or unusual? I honestly don’t understand what the problem is. As I already said, our animals don’t smell and don’t make noise. They’re also not dangerous at all and pose less of a threat to the environment than virtually all of the animals already allowed by the county. The last thing a pet store owner wants is another liability, so in their own best interests, they carry only the reptiles least likely to be a problem. Those are the animals I strive to provide.”

In a notice to property owners provided to the Village News, county representative Sean Oberbauer wrote that the business has requested a permit for the purpose of “Rearing and housing of live harmless reptiles for the pet industry and small animal rearing as food for the reptiles. … No animals are venomous or poisonous.”

Efforts to reach Oberbauer regarding the case haven’t been returned.

“His type of business does not belong in a residential zoned area,” Johnson said. “A large amount of specialty animals are escaping. The reptiles and rodents carry disease. The foul odor from the animal waste, soiled bedding and cleaning liquids can be smelled on neighboring properties.

“We do not want A70 zoning to be waived for one neighbor who wants to run his commercial business in a residential neighborhood. The herpetoculture business is not agriculture (and) the specialty animals being raised are not farm animals.”

Huntington disagrees.

“When I look at the Sage/Sumac/Wilt ridge line or even the larger Gird Valley, we are one of the very few landowners who is still attempting to make an agricultural living on our agricultural land,” he said. “Agriculture was the foundation of Fallbrook, and I would be sorry to see it disappear.

“I have been a professional herpetoculturalist for over 17 years and know of dozens, if not hundreds, of other individuals in San Diego County who keep more than 25 reptiles on their premises in violation of existing county code. I am not justifying not adhering to county code; I just don’t think many people, just like I didn’t, realize just how overly restrictive the codes are, even for land zoned as agricultural.”

There has been no word on when a decision on the minor use permit will be made by county officials.

Jeff Pack can be reached by email at [email protected].

 

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