P&Z panel backs 1-year permit for pet rescue home
The Yuma County Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-2 Monday to recommend a special use permit for Old Souls K9 Rescue and Retirement Home for a period of one year, rather than the five years recommended in the draft permit. The vote followed a contentious public hearing where the nonprofit rescue’s supporters and opponents gave diametrically opposed accounts of whether the nonprofit, operating within a home in a subdivision just west of the city of Yuma off County 11th Street, was responsible for attracting flies and mosquitoes to the area and driving down property values.
Old Souls has built a strong following elsewhere in the community, and even globally through an online petition, for its mission of rescuing aged, sick and hospice dogs, which helped draw around 200 attendees to the public meeting.
At its height, the county’s Aldrich Auditorium was standing-room only after seating for 84 attendees was filled up, and 80 or more people were watching a TV feed in the overflow room, the Department of Development Services’ lobby.
Most property owners within the subdivision have filed written objections to the rescue, including more than 20 percent of neighbors within a 300foot radius of the property. This triggers a requirement that a supermajority of the Board of Supervisors, or four out of five, approve the permit before it can be issued.
The proposed permit would allow Old Souls to have up to 18 dogs in their home, rather than the six they could have without the permit. Their five cats would also be allowed to stay, but the rescue does not take in elderly cats.
Most of the other animals are allowed “by right” at the home under its rural residential zoning, which allows up to four “large animals,” including horses and pigs.
“I think they’re over by one pig right now, but they said they would take care of that,” county planner Juan Leal Rubio told the commission. Owner Paula Rivadeneira said that pig would go to a new adoptive home in a couple of weeks.
Other proposed limitations include a maximum of 15 visitors and volunteers per day, no visitors or guests parking in the street, and operating hours of 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. They would be required to create four parking spaces on their property as well. Planning staff is recommending approval of the permit.
As Rivadeneira and a few others noted, most of these complaints had little to do with the care of the rescued dogs but with other animals, including two horses, three pigs, tortoises and others, as well as cats, both domestic and feral.
She sad a dispute with her next-door neighbors started over whether her own cats were peeing and pooping in the yard, an issue not controlled by the county as cats are considered freeroaming animals. She said her cats have gotten into his yard on occasion, but according to records from the Humane Society of Yuma, out of 27 cats trapped and turned in by the neighbor, it turned out to be the couple’s six times.
She said she and husband Issac did not do a lot of neighborhood outreach when they moved into the house in April 2015 with the intent of keeping the rescued dogs there, because they wanted to minimize their impact on the community.
“We have been quiet and by ourselves for almost two and a half years now. Almost none of our neighbors knew we were there, until the Sotos started going door-to-door and spreading these lies about us,” she said.
Michelle Chavez, the daughter of neighbor Alejandro Soto, said she submitted the initial complaint to the county because she has witnessed conditions which could be harmful to his health as a liver transplant recipient.
“I encountered firsthand the rancid smells of cat urine on my niece’s toys, cat feces on our property when I visit and the excessive smells from the dozens of animals on their property,” she said.
Bobbi McDermott, a retired soil scientist and agricultural consultant in Yuma, said she drove by the house and went inside, and saw no problems with the way it was maintained or the amount of insects around it.
“I know the need for what they do in this community and I support them 100 percent,” she said.
Suzye Erwin spoke on behalf of Border City Rollergirls, a roller derby team which volunteers at Old Souls and built a “cat room” at the home in an effort to keep the Rivadeneira’s felines from roaming outside.
“Every time we’ve been there it’s always been clean. We’ve gone over there to help them clean up feces and by the time they get there, there isn’t much left to do. It’s a beautiful thing that they do and it breaks my heart they may not be able to do it in their home because it’s a round-theclock job, and someone has to be there 24/7.”
Several members of neighbor Alejandro Soto’s family spoke, including Melissa Soto, who talked about “cyberbullying” by some supporters of Old Souls on Facebook. She read several posts where writers refer to punching or hitting her father, his house being burned down or, in one case, “I hope someone puts him in a cage and takes him out to be euthanized.
Rivadeneira said she could not take responsibility for what her nearly 6,000 Facebook followers wrote on her page, nor did she consider them real threats. “There’s nothing I can do. And nobody means any harm by them, they’re just frustrated, because they love what we do, and they’re frustrated that all this is happening because of cats.”
Commissioner Alicia Aguirre said, after the vote had been taken, that Rivadeneira could do more to reduce the aggression level in the comments being left. “If your volunteers, your friends, if they know that is not acceptable to you, that you won’t tolerate it, it won’t happen. Letting that happen just causes these rifts, in the neighborhood. No one needs that.”
More than 30 people spoke, the majority supporting Old Souls but a significant number of neighbors spoke in opposition, plus a few other members of the public.
After listening to more than two hours of testimony, most of the commissioners coalesced around giving Old Souls a permit that would be up for renewal after one year, “so you can find another location or win your neighbors over,” chairman Paul White said.
Most property owners within the subdivision have filed written objections to the rescue, including more than 20 percent of neighbors within a 300-foot radius of the property. This triggers a requirement that a supermajority of the Board of Supervisors, or four out of five, approve the permit before it can be issued.