Some Athens residents may squawk but they’ll still have to find country homes for their pot-bellied pigs and pet chickens.

Athens City Council member voted unanimously Monday to ban people from keeping swine and fowl – including chickens, ducks, geese and other domestic fowl – inside the city limits.

“Get rid of your chickens!” Councilman Harold Wales laughingly warned.

There are a few exceptions to the rule. You can keep your swine and fowl if you are or are connected with a properly zoned industrial processing facility or farm, or if the police chief approves your request to keep one for no more than two days for educational or entertainment purposes.

Mayor Dan Williams said there is a growing problem with pigs and chickens breaking free and running amok in neighborhoods. He cited a recent case in which a pot-bellied pig was on the lam.

Council President Johnny Crutcher asked if the change would doom the ducks at the city park.

The mayor told Crutcher he was interpreting the ordinance too broadly.

“It (makes it illegal) for anyone to keep fowl,” Williams said. “Where me and Councilman Marks live they have a (large) lake and we’d have to have an army out there to shoot ducks otherwise.”

Council members also shortened the leash Monday on bad dog owners by banning makeshift kennels – such as fencing in carports – to contain large, vicious dogs.

Councilman Ronnie marks proposed the added restrictions to the city’s animal ordinance because he said it did not go far enough.

He recently told The News Courier that such an arrangement led to the death of a small dog in his neighborhood.

“In my district, we have a Rottweiler and two pit bulldogs penned on a carport,” he said. “They got out recently and just about ate up a little dog on a leash. There was a huge vet bill. The owner willingly offered to pay the bill.”

The city’s previous ordinance was vague. It stated that: a.) No person shall keep or permit to be kept on his premises any wild animal for display or for exhibition purposes, whether gratuitously or for a fee. This section shall not be construed to apply to performing animal exhibitions or circuses. (b) No person shall keep or permit to be kept any wild animal as a pet.”

Code Enforcement Officer Ron Ultz previously told The News Courier that “When you have such an animal confined in just a carport or tied on a chain to a doghouse, that’s just a plan for disaster.”

Also Monday, council members voted 5-0 to rescind an ordinance that would have formed a State Improve District and Cooperative District in order to issue $3 million in tax-exempt bonds to build streets, sewers and water lines for EastSide Junction shopping center at U.S. 72 East and Lindsay Lane.

Publix supermarket, which will still anchor the development, and developer Bill Ming had already announced earlier this month that the financing arrangements was off because it was not in the best interests of the community. The council’s move reflects the dissolution of that agreement.

Under the plan, the districts would have charged a 1-percent user fee on retail sales in the shopping center and property owners who located in the shopping center would have paid a special assessment in order to repay the debt.

Councilman Wales stressed that the rescinding of the ordinance creating the districts in no way reflects the city’s willingness to work with businesses that want to move here.

“We must stay open to try to help developers come into the city,” he said. “This does not mean that me and this City Council will not get involved to bring things to this city. The City Council or the city of Athens is not against progress.”

Councilwoman Milly Caudle concurred. “I spoke with the developer in question 45 minutes ago and assured him we are open to incentives or plans that would bring jobs to our community,” she said.

Also Monday, the council took the following action:

• Approved a 7 percent increase in electric rates, which the Tennessee Valley Authority had already approved for its customers, including Athens Utilities. The Electric Department would have had to come up with $6 million without the increase. Councilwoman Caudle acknowledged the 7 percent hike “is a formidable increase.”

• Approved the master plan for Creekside Village Subdivision off U.S. 72, which will include commercial development, town homes and single-family homes.