Bellevue, NE Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Chapter 6, Article V defines COMMERCIAL ANIMAL ESTABLISHMENT at § 6-0 to include a pet shop, grooming shop, auction, riding school or stable, zoological park, circus, performing-animal exhibit or kennel. Section 6-101 makes it unlawful to operate any of those, or an animal shelter, without a permit from the licensing authority, defined as the City of Bellevue itself. Section 6-102 lets the licensing authority write regulations covering humane care and compliance with the chapter, and update them as public health and animal welfare require. Section 6-103 issues the permit once an applicant shows willingness and ability to comply and pays the applicable fee, and § 6-106 ties that fee to the Master Fee Schedule on an annual basis.

Section 6-104 runs the permit with the city's fiscal year, with renewals due 30 days before to 60 days after the fiscal year starts, while a brand-new establishment can apply at any time. Section 6-105 allows a permit to transfer to a new owner on a change of ownership for a transfer fee, and § 6-107 treats every separate facility as its own enterprise needing its own permit, while exempting veterinary hospitals, animal shelters and government-run zoological parks from the fee. Section 6-108 is the enforcement backbone: the licensing authority can revoke a permit for noncompliance with the chapter or its regulations, must be allowed to inspect all animals and the premises at any time or the permit is revoked for refusing that inspection, must refuse a permit to an applicant who withheld or falsified information, and must refuse or revoke a permit for anyone convicted of animal cruelty.

A revoked operator has ten days to humanely dispose of every animal, with no refund of the fee, and a denied applicant must wait 30 days and pay a $15.00 fee to reapply.