Greater Sudbury's planning committee is looking to rewrite a bylaw governing kennels to accommodate a business in Lively that is, technically, operating illegally.
Darlene and Nathan Nicholson quit their jobs five years ago to open the Friends Fur Ever pet resort, a high-end kennel that allows pet owners to use an app to access live video of their dogs.
At Monday's planning meeting, customer after customer sang the kennel's praises, along with staff members and supporters. The Nicholsons want to expand their offerings at the kennel, turning it into a full pet resort – complete with a hydrotherapy pool for injured canines.
The problem is the city made a mistake in 2013 when it issued the Nicholsons a business permit for the kennel. Under decades old city bylaws, kennels have to have 300 metres distance between themselves and residences – about the length of three football fields.
According to the staff report on the issue, Friends Fur Ever currently operates in an 800-square-foot building that's only 84 metres from the southerly lot line.
City planner Glenn Ferguson said the 300-metre setback is aimed at minimizing conflicts between kennel businesses and their neighbours caused by barking dogs.
While the Nicholsons had two noise studies done to show their businesses adheres to sound limit laws, a peer review of those studies done by the city rejected that conclusion.
Darlene Nicholson said she consulted with the person who wrote the provincial guidelines, who agreed with her noise consultant. She accused the city-hired consultant of gearing their findings to agree with city staff.
“In both of those instances, what they wrote was incorrect,” she said. “The city and the neighbours have tried to make this a noise issue, which it is not.
“The City of Greater Sudbury gave me a licence to run a kennel on this very property. They inspected my property when we opened and every year since.
“We're already Sudbury's best kennel.”
Nathan Nicholson said other cities don't have such restrictive rules for kennels, saying in North Bay, the setback is only 45 metres, 30 metres in Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie and 100 in Parry Sound.
“And Greater Sudbury is 300 metres!” he said.
Other kennels in the city don't meet the 300-metre requirement, he said, yet are allowed to operate near residences.
“The Minnow Lake Dog Park is open 17 hours a day, unsupervised outdoor playtime,” he said.
But the neighbours of the kennel – some of whom have posted signs near the Kalio Road business complaining of the “illegal kennel,” said they shouldn't have to put up with the noise because the city made a mistake.
“We have no problem with the fact they're doing a great job, we have a problem with the fact they're in our area,” said Mathew Wiecha. “That's the problem … They should find a place where they can do this legally.”
“Is there a more intrusive, outrageous land use than having 20 or 30 dogs outside, all day, virtually beside you? Is there anyone in this room, or in this city, that would welcome that?”
Because of his opposition to the kennel, Wiecha said he has been harassed by supporters and his sign vandalized.
“A mistake was made to issue a business licence,” he allowed, but said they have made money since then and should relocate.
Another neighbour, Stephane Chiasson, said the barking was constant noise from early in the morning until the evening.
“We're not making this up,” he said. “It's something we live with.
“It's their profit at our cost. We're not looking to close the kennel. We just asking that it be relocated to a location that is appropriate.”
Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini, whose ward includes the kennel, said under city bylaws, there's no limit on the number of dogs you can own, so he could have 27 dogs at his private home if he chose to, the same number of dogs the Nicholsons can have at their business.
“I could have that amount, technically,” Vagnini said.
He added that the people who made the mistake in issuing the permit “are no longer with the city,” but that it was unfair to punish the Nicholsons, who haven't done anything wrong.
Considering they have invested about $500,000 into the pet resort, refusing them now could mean legal issues.
“How are we going to reimburse them?” Vagnini said.
Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann wondered if negotiations would be possible, with the Nicholsons agreeing to steps to reduce the noise.
“There may be a compromise,” she said. “A discussion needs to be had about mitigation measures.”
Staff is willing to sit down “and see what is possible.”
“I really feel for the Nicholsons,” said Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer. “And I really feel for the residents living near the kennel.”
It doesn't matter how good a facility it is, Sizer said, that isn't a factor in the decision.
“This is a rezoning application,” he said. “It's a bylaw we have to follow.”
But he said it's time for that bylaw to be reviewed and changes made to the 300-metre setback.
Planning staff said if a decision was delayed until April, and a new application from the Nicholsons was made under a revised bylaw, that would satisfy planning laws.
In the end, a decision was put off, allowing the Nicholsons to keep operating while the new city council decides whether to change the bylaw.
