Code Changed : The Storm Over Stormer Is All Over

From now on, Stormer the guard goose can waddle the back lawn at midnight and honk like a truck driver at the moon if she wants.

The Huntington Beach City Council, which vowed last June to try to avoid banishing the 2-year-old security bird from town, unanimously approved a code amendment Monday night that allows for the issuance of residential animal permits.

The permits, which will cost $10 if approved by the city’s community development director, allow a resident to have a goose, rabbit or duck if noise and odor and other health codes are met.

Stormer belongs to the two children of Chris Rodriguez.

It’s been nine months of sundowns in the garage for Stormer, whose hair-trigger honk prompted the family to bring her home as a sort of waddling burglar alarm, Rodriguez said.

Stormer, the beloved 10-pound sentry, had been spending nights with the cars and bikes and other garage gear since last summer, when a neighbor griped to the city about noise.

“To keep this guy happy, at 7 o’clock every night she was marched into the garage, and at 7 in the morning she was marched back out,” said Rodriguez, who is allergic to dogs and whose husband travels a lot in his work. “It kind of defeated the whole purpose of why we got her in the first place.”

A plea by Rodriguez on behalf of Stormer at a City Council meeting last June brought promises that some solution would be sought.

The municipal law forbids keeping fowl within 50 feet of property lines and within 100 feet of an inhabitable structure other than one’s own.

“She still does a pretty good job just in the day time,” mused Rodriguez.