Pawtucket continues to shelve ordinance in October as Price claims State rules can be followed for her proposal...leaving DOGS in LIMBO!
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9/9/2009
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'Doggie day care' proposal waits as officials review pet ordinance
PAWTUCKET - If city leaders don't approve realistic rules governing pet care operations, says a city resident who has proposed such a facility here, you might as well throw her plan to the dogs. Sue Price told The Valley Breeze that while she understands City Council want to be thorough as they consider new rules regulating pet services in the close-knit city of Pawtucket, she will abandon the idea of her 10,000-square-foot "doggie day care" facility, Ocean Dog Club, if they move ahead with a new pet services ordinance as currently proposed. The Pawtucket City Council's Ordinance Committee will meet at 6 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, Sept. 9, to consider whether to approve an amendment to the city's zoning ordinance allowing facilities like the one Price has proposed. The City Council could consider passage of the ordinance as early as its regular meeting in two weeks, according to City Clerk Richard Goldstein. Though pet day care facilities like Price's are currently banned altogether, council members have commissioned Animal Control Supervisor John Holmes to write an ordinance outlining how such facilities may operate in the city. The pet services portion of the city's zoning ordinance was left out for further review when leaders approved other zoning changes earlier this year, but council members approved proper zoning for Price's location on Aug. 5 in anticipation of these rules following. Holmes has crafted an ordinance in amendment of Chapter 116 of the Pawtucket Code of Ordinances titled "kennel licenses." His draft calls for no more than "30 animals at any one time during the day and no more than 15 animals at any one time overnight." "If those are the numbers that are going to stick, I'm going to have to walk away," said Price, who says her time is running short to get her facility opened by the busy holiday seasons. Price wants to double Holmes' numbers. She's seeking a maximum of 60 dogs in day care and no more than 30 boarded overnight at her facility. She could still open with a maximum of 20 boarded overnight, she says, but only with the understanding that if she abides by the city's rules the number would go up to 30 sometime down the road. Holmes was commissioned to revise the city's ordinance on kennels earlier this summer at the request of City Council members who were trying to accommodate Price's plans. "I want to make it clear that they've been really super about pushing the zoning through for this," said Price. Price is an animal lover and unemployed architect who lost her job in March. Though she doesn't have experience running a pet day care facility, she has worked hard to obtain all the licenses and vital information she needs and says she has a knowledgeable staff in place if and when she gets the green light to move ahead. There is a huge need in metropolitan areas like Pawtucket and Providence for such establishments, she says, with doggie day care centers popping up in cities of similar size - with little incident - across the country. Price contends that the city currently has more than 1 million square feet of vacant commercial space and should be encouraging people like her to fill that space with worthwhile endeavors. Price would pay somewhere in the vicinity of $6,000 a month to lease her proposed space, a great deal per square foot, she says, but only if those square feet are filled up. Price says Holmes doesn't appear to understand the difference between the shelter he runs and a day care facility. Hers will not have dogs cooped up "23/7," she says, while a kennel would, a fact she says can cause excessive barking. "The dogs I'm going to have are going to be playing all day; they'll be tired at the end of the day," said Price, who claims her planned facility at 245 Esten Ave. would be about 700 feet from the nearest dwelling. Like children, dogs driven to day care will play until they're tired, take a long nap, then play some more until it's time to go home, said Price. "They go home exhausted," she said. "And if a dog is causing a ruckus, he goes to timeout just like a little kid would." "In a shelter, the dogs are uncomfortable, they don't know what's going on, they don't have the interaction they need with humans, and they're scared," Price continued. As defined in the new proposed ordinance, a kennel is simply "a place or establishment other than a pound or animal shelter where animals not owned by the proprietor are sheltered during the day and/or overnight, fed, and watered in return for a fee." Price says that instead of putting limits on numbers, members of the ordinance review committee and City Council should instead make requirements on: * Health and safety. * Noise. * And the percentage of workers to dogs, among others. "Put the burden on me to control the issue," said Price, who said she believes owners of establishments like hers should not be allowed to exceed the general noise in the area they are located in. Some members of the City Council have indicated their concern about noise emanating from Price's facility, while others have said they're supportive of her proposal but worried about copycat proposals in other parts of a city. "I do have real concerns about the number of dogs," said At-Large Councilor Thomas Hodge, who serves as chairman of the Ordinance Committee, during a discussion of the kennel ordinance at an Aug. 5 City Council meeting. Price contends that the council could approve some kind of tiered system by which to control day care and boarding facilities in different parts of the city. Some are already running such facilities illegally, she says, and she should not be punished because she's trying to stay above board. "I want to do this right," she said.
