‘You can’t always get want you want’ TRURO NEWS
TRURO, N.S. – A new dog kennel bylaw for Colchester County may not be perfect but it’s a vast improvement over what was initially proposed, some local breeders say.
“In general I think it’s good,” said Marcel Marcotte of the Red Woof Inn Doggie Daycare in Central North River.
“I think it’s a quantum leap from where we were last August. As Mick Jagger says, you can’t always get what you want.”
Council recently approved a new Commercial Dog Care and Kennel Bylaw after rejecting an earlier draft version last August.
Marcotte was one of the audience members who packed council chambers during the August session and while the new version doesn’t appease all his concerns, he said the fact council came back with a revised version shows it was listening to the public objections.
“At the end of the day, there was a lot of compromise from the county,” he said. “I really think that county council should be commended for the approach that they did take.”
Marcotte’s primary concern with the new bylaw involved a setback distance from a dog run to the nearest residence, which had been proposed at 250 metres.
Marcotte had proposed a 150-metre setback for an open area and 75 metres if a noise buffer was provided because he said the original distance proposed by council would have required an unreasonable amount of acreage.
During second reading of the bylaw, council revised its setback requirements to 150 metres without a noise buffer and 100 metres for runs with a buffer (i.e., trees).
Marcotte said he was also pleased council indicated that if the bylaw was found to be not working as intended, it could be reexamined and revised.
Jenny Best, a hobby/preservation breeder of Newfoundland dogs in Londonderry said she was also generally pleased with the bylaw’s final version. Her primary objection is with the fact that large dog breeders are only permitted to produce two litters per year, as opposed to small dogs, which are allowed four litters.
Even though she has only produced one litter in 10 years, Best said she would have preferred the permissible litter rates to be the same across the board.
“I only breed on a limited basis. I breed to preserve this breed, which I love so dearly,” she said. “It would have been nice to see an increase in litter numbers because you may have some years that you don’t have any litters and other years that you maybe would like to have more than two litters as a hobby breeder.”
But, as with Marcotte, Best said the approved bylaw “is a big improvement over what was presented to us in August.”
The municipality’s original kennel bylaw was approved in 1998 and staff acknowledged in its report to council that the dog breeding and care industry has “evolved considerably” since then.
The bylaw is intended to ensure that commercial dog care and kennel facilities are compatible with adjacent land uses and are intended to ensure that neighbouring residents are not unnecessarily hounded by the sounds of barking from multiple sources.
The bylaw does not impact dog grooming businesses that do not have unattended care or outdoor enclosures and veterinary clinics are also exempt.
And unlike the earlier draft version, the bylaw does not limit the number of personal dogs owners can have or the ability to foster dogs. Neither does it impact hobby dog breeders where no more than two litters are bred per year.
Commercial operators who do not comply with the bylaw, however, can be fined between $1,000 and $10,000 if they are convicted of not complying with the bylaw terms.
“I think that Colchester County made every possible effort to communicate, to collaborate, to get options,” Mayor Christine Blair said. “I think we did as much as we could possibly do.”
But, if it is found to not be working out as planned, it can be brought back to the council table.
“A bylaw can always be changed,” Blair said.