Agenda - 04-15-2014 - 5b - Laserfiche WebLink

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30 1 2 Michael Harvey said his interpretation is that the kennel has an existing special use 3 permit that is governing the operation of their site. He said his problem is that the owners 4 cannot meet the criteria to then justify the issuance of the variance. 5 6 Commissioner Price said it is for the panel to decide if this is a hardship or not. She is 7 just clarifying that the kennel would have to come into compliance first. 8 9 Michael Harvey said the owners can apply for a variance, but it is his opinion that it 10 cannot be issued if it is to comply with local ordinance and state law. 11 12 Commissioner Gordon asked if it would be an option to have another hearing and make 13 this a non-conforming use, and eliminate kennels from EDE-2. 14 15 Michael Harvey said if the use is eliminated, then you have an illegally established use. 16 He said under the confines of the non-conforming ordinance, the logic is that it could continue 17 operation; however it is already in violation of the permit it was issued in 1986. 18 19 Commissioner Gordon said the question is whether the Board wants to make a universal 20 change for a specific circumstance. She said the consideration of whether it is universally 21 acceptable to have a 150 foot setback for a kennel. She said this is a legitimate question. 22 23 Commissioner Pelissier referred to her original question about the EDE-2 total acres, 24 and she asked if information can be provided on how much of the EDE-2 is already developed 25 and how much is not. 26 27 She wants to make sure that the public understands that letters sent, even before the 28 public hearing, become part of the public record. 29 30 Michael Harvey said this is correct on both counts. 31 32 Tony Blake, representative for Bingham Township, said he agrees with Commissioner 33 Dorosin. He said the intent of this ordinance is to protect people from noise and annoyance 34 from a kennel, and this is the additional setback. He questioned, in the case of EDE-2, who 35 cares. He said there should be an ability to tweak this kind of stuff, or the County ends up 36 putting people through unnecessary hardship or putting them out of business. 37 38 Commissioner Gordon clarified that this is a public hearing, and no decision will be made 39 tonight. 40 41 Mike Schmidt said he would use his three minutes to tell a story. He said he was having 42 a tough day at work. He said he drops his dog off early in the morning and usually picks up late 43 at night, but he took off early and picked up his dog early. He drove up the driveway and saw 44 his dog chasing bubbles that someone was blowing. He said he asked about this and he was 45 told that the kennel had researched how to create dog sensitive bubbles to give the dogs 46 different play and interaction. He said he was told long ago that you can judge someone by 47 their actions when they don't know they are being observed. He said these people really care 48 about these animals, and he wants to tell about the great benefit he receives, along with the 49 hundreds of others that signed the petition. 50