Byrnes Mill residents are probably familiar with the sight of Melissa Bedrosian walking alongside her miniature horse, Ginger.
However, Bedrosian is worried the walks she and Ginger take to Byrnes Mill City Park three or four times a week may soon come to an end.
The city of Byrnes Mill issued her a citation on Oct. 4 for allegedly violating an ordinance that prohibits residents from keeping “farm-related” animals in residential areas.
According to the ordinance, a maximum of five chickens but no other farm-related animals are allowed on residential lots smaller than 1 acre.
Bedrosian said Ginger has lived with her on Franks Road since 2011 and is an emotional support and service animal and should be exempt from the ordinance.
On their walks to the City Park, Bedrosian said she gets the physical support she needs to safely make the journeys by keeping her hand firmly on Ginger’s back.
“She helps me at the park and allows me to get exercise because I’ve got degenerative disc disease, and I’ve got some slipped discs and other issues that cause muscle weakness, mobility, and balance (issues),” Bedrosian said. “She helps keep me stable and keep me on my feet. If for some reason I fall, well, she has the ability to carry me back to the car or wherever I need to go.”
Bedrosian said Ginger also provides her with emotional support.
“She helps me with my anxiety and depression and kind of gives me a reason to live.”
Melissa Bedrosian's miniature horse, Ginger.
How it started
City Administrator Adam Thompson said the city received complaints about Bedrosian and Ginger in January, so former code enforcement officer Dan Bailey assessed the property.
“The zoning is what the zoning is,” Mayor Rob Kiczenski said. “It’s a residential community. The city acted on the complaint. The city doesn’t go out and look for violations. We wait for somebody to place an issue with us, and then we react.”
Bedrosian believes a neighbor who also works for the city of Byrnes Mill filed the complaint.
City officials would not say who filed it.
Bedrosian said Bailey delivered a letter to her in January, saying her property is zoned residential and a horse cannot be kept there.
She said she went to Byrnes Mill City Hall to apply for a special $25 permit to allow for a variance for Ginger.
Bedrosian argued that the variance was necessary because Ginger is her emotional support animal. She provided the city with a copy of a note from a therapist based in Kansas City recommending that Bedrosian should be allowed to keep the horse.
Bedrosian said the city denied her request for a variance.
“The Board (of Alderpersons) has the opportunity to make any variances or changes they want,” Thompson said. “The (Planning and Zoning Commission) looked into this, and she just didn’t meet that burden to allow it to stay as an emotional support animal.
“My job is to enforce the ordinances set forth by the Board (of Alderpersons). Regardless of how I feel about it, the ordinances are the law, and the law is what I enforce.”
Emotional support vs service animal
“As far as legal opinion goes, there is no such thing as a right to an emotional support animal,” City Attorney Craig Smith said at the Aug. 2 Board of Alderpersons meeting. “If this were a service animal, which is a very specific definition, then yes, you can make an accommodation. But an emotional support animal, while I’m not knocking people who use them, it’s not something the city has to make an accommodation for.”
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, an emotional support animal is any animal that “provides emotional support alleviating one or more symptoms or effects of a person’s disability.”
In contrast, a service animal is “any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability,” under Title II and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
According to the Missouri Disabilities Portal published by the Governor’s Council on Disability, there is a special provision for miniature horses who meet certain requirements to be called service animals.
Bedrosian said that, in her eyes, Ginger is both an emotional support animal and a service animal.
“They’re leading me by false pretense to believe I have to produce something showing them that she is a support animal,” Bedrosian said. “They are manipulating the system and not giving me the correct information. They’re asking me for proof, which they are not supposed to ask for. They’re not supposed to ask what my disabilities are.”
Smith disputes those claims.
“(Bedrosian) has supplied documentation, and that documentation does not meet the level needed for the city to make a determination to do a variance or anything like that,” he said. “You (the Board of Alderpersons) asked for documentation from a doctor; she provides something from a therapist; you (the Board of Alderpersons) ask for documentation saying it is a service animal, and she gives you something saying it’s an emotional support animal.
“(The city) is allowed to ask what the animal assists me in doing and I told them she assists me in mobility and balance whenever I go exercise, whenever I’m bending over,” Bedrosian said. “This animal is not a pet. It’s providing me a service and I am a person with a disability, both physical and psychiatric.”
What’s next?
In an effort to garner support for her to keep Ginger, Bedrosian said she started a petition and all her neighbors, except the one she believes filed the complaint, signed the petition in favor of keeping Ginger.
Bedrosian said neither the petition nor the therapist’s note was enough to avoid a citation, though.
“Two cops showed up at our door,” Bedrosian said. “I was out there with my animal. They said, ‘We really don’t want to do this, and we don’t believe it’s fair, but we have to do it. We have been asked to give you a citation.’”
Bedrosian said she must report to the Byrnes Mill Municipal Court on Nov. 14, and she plans to continue fighting for the variance to keep Ginger on her property.
“I hope that this story reaches enough people who will get on board with me,” Bedrosian said. “Right now, I’m looking for legal representation.”
According to the Byrnes Mill city website, the courtroom opens at 4:30 p.m. and court starts at 5 p.m.