WELLINGTON NORTH – Wellington North council passed a rezoning bylaw amendment on May 10 to allow a dog kennel owned by Allen and Erma Martin to be in compliance with the township’s Kennel by-law.
This amendment will rezone the property to permit the dog kennel within an existing accessory structure to operate on a site-specific basis on the property.
The property will be re-zoned from agricultural to agricultural site-specific.
The purpose of the application was to rezone the property to permit the operation of a dog kennel within an existing 136.75 square metre accessory structure on the property.
An amendment to the zoning by-law was required to permit a kennel on the subject property, since kennels are not allowed in Wellington North township unless specifically permitted by an amendment.
The kennel has been in operation for at least 10 years but required council’s approval to be in compliance with by-laws.
Technically, it had been operating illegally before the vote.
The kennel is located at 7522 Sideroad 3 E Kenilworth and is 90 acres in size.
The Martin’s said they currently have 10 dogs, and as the business scales up, they will be housing 25 dogs – which is permitted for a licensed dog kennel.
The proposed kennel is 136.75 square metres in size and will include seven whelping areas, nine outdoor runs, nine indoor pens, and an outdoor exercise area.
Councillor Sherry Burke raised concerns over granting the zoning amendment.
“I still have a really hard time granting a zoning amendment just so that a kennel operator can be in compliance, so I think we’re kind of moving this in the wrong way.”
Allen Martin responded by saying he was unaware there was any issue with the kennel.
“As far as operating the kennel, we were under the impression that it’s legal to have 10 dogs, so we were trying to operate with 10 dogs because we thought it was legal that way,” Martin told members of council.
Councillor Burke then said council may have to revisit this by-law.
“It obviously seems fairly confusing because it reads that you can have three dogs, and then it reads that you can have 10 dogs but if you have 10 dogs, it’s not for breeding purposes, it’s for other farm uses.”
Rick Rauwerda, an animal control officer for the Township of Wellington North said there were 13 dogs on-site when he first visited, which is three dogs over the limit in the township.
Mayor Andy Lennox said with the strong kennel by-laws the township has in place, he would rather see existing kennel operators bring their kennels into compliance with township by-laws rather than have them bring their operations elsewhere.
“I’m not a big fan of dog kennels in our community,” Lennox said.
“However, I do think there is a need for dog raising. I think the fact that we do have a robust kennel bylaw with significant protections in place to make sure that dogs are treated appropriately, I think that bringing this, and potentially other operations into compliance is our best way to protect the well-being of dogs in our community.”
“My belief is we can get this applicant into compliance, and that should be a good thing.”
The by-law amendment was passed 3-2, with councillors Steve McCabe and Sherry Burke voting against it.
