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

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31 1 Jane Bozart said she sent an email, and if this is in the record she does not need to 2 repeat it. 3 4 Ken McNish said he has been bringing his dog to Sunny Acres for three years, and he 5 feels that the key feature that makes it different is the open space for the dogs to run. He said 6 there are a lot of complicated things being discussed tonight; but this is simple, and the proposal 7 makes sense. 8 9 Susan Heske said her dogs have been at Sunny Acres for two years, and aside from the 10 benefit of the dogs being able to run and socialize, it is also a very professional business. She 11 is amazed at the staff and the commitment. She said it is located in an area that can use some 12 business. She is not aware of any neighbors waging any complaints. She said she is more 13 concerned with the process and why this situation has not been adjudicated in 8 years. She said 14 a fair amount of money was invested in improving an existing fence. She said this is about 15 process, and her concern is why this has remained dormant for so long. She said this is a low 16 impact business, and there is nothing harmful to the environment. She said the kennel provides 17 jobs to people and is a benefit to hundreds of dogs. 18 19 Peter Eckhoff said he has been a customer of Sunny Acres for 4 and a half years. He 20 said his son came down with cancer, and his dog was boarded for 2 months at Sunny Acres. 21 He said the dog was high energy, and he was able to go out in the runs. He said when the dog 22 came home and was then taken back to the kennel; he dragged the owner to the front door. He 23 has had other dogs at other kennels, and it wasn't the same experience. He wonders what the 24 basis is for the ordinance, and he noted the proximity of the highway and the noise created by 25 that. 26 27 Michael Brough said he would like to address a couple of issues. He said if the choice 28 of a variance was available, that would have been pursued. He said the consensus was that 29 the variance opportunity is not a real possibility. He said the conditional use permit is out as an 30 option, and so is an appeal. He said the only realistic way to cure this is the legislative solution 31 before the Board. He addressed Commissioner Gordon's question about a universal change. 32 He said he is very sensitive to this, and he represents a number of local governments. He is 33 very sensitive to an ordinance change being broader than the needs of the particular applicant; 34 however he is frequently called upon to craft legislative solutions to deal with particular 35 situations like this one. 36 37 He said the reality is that the applicant has drafted a very narrow amendment, and it only 38 affects 200 acres, and quite likely it will only affect this property owner. He said this is not a 39 question of amending an ordinance of universal applicability or not. He said the realistic choice 40 is whether you are going to keep an ordinance on a theoretical basis that is going to have the 41 practical effect of driving this business out of business. He said there have never been any 42 complaints about noise or smell, which indicates there will not be a problem to make the 43 legislative choice before the Board. 44 45 Michael Brough said the owners have confirmed to him that they did not know about this 46 150 foot setback requirement until the past couple of months. He said that is their 47 representation to the Board. He urged the Board to adopt this ordinance. 48 49 Commissioner Gordon asked, given the item that came before this, where the property is 50 located, and whether it has to be re-zoned EDE-2 in order to qualify. 51