Tim Ryan, tryan@shawanoleader.com
“Hallelujah.”
That was Rita Mondus reacting Wednesday to the unanimous vote of the Shawano Plan Commission finally granting the special zoning exception she had been seeking since September for the exhibition of animals at Anello’s Torch Lite.
The special exception still has to be approved by the Common Council when it meets on Wednesday.
The Plan Commission had been signaling for five months its willingness to grant the special exception, but had been waiting for a private zoo license to be issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The restaurant at 1276 E. Green Bay St. was informed in August that its zoo violated the city’s zoning ordinance. Anello’s was ordered to reduce the number of animals to within the limits set by the Plan Commission in April 2003. According to minutes of that meeting, commissioners limited the number of animals that could be displayed to eight.
Mondus subsequently applied for a USDA license and submitted a new application with the city for a special exception to the zoning code, this time specifying up to 65 non-threatening animals.
There was a consensus at the Plan Commission meeting in October that the number of animals wouldn’t be an issue for the city as long as the zoo maintains a USDA license and conforms to USDA regulations.
The zoo was allowed to continue operating in the meantime even though it was in violation of the city’s zoning ordinance.
The Shawano Common Council voted in September that the ordinance would not be enforced against Anello’s while its special exception request was pending.
There was some discussion at Wednesday’s Plan Commission meeting of the USDA’s definition of animals, which doesn’t include such things as poultry, but commissioners were satisfied that the menagerie at Anello’s would not include any animals that would be a concern to public safety.
The commission struck the phrase “non-threatening” animals from the special exception on the advice of legal counsel because the phrase is not defined in city ordinances.
Mondus said she had no intention of having animals that would present a threat.
There was also some discussion of whether the animals constituted a petting zoo — as it has long been referred to — or a private zoo.
Mondus referred to it at Wednesday’s meeting as a private zoo, though Anello’s has several websites that refer to it as a petting zoo.
Mondus said she has a license for a petting zoo, which allows her to take her animals to other locations, such as schools, for display.