Neighbors Appeal ZBA Approval of Doggie Day Care Center

Seventeen neighbors of a are not taking the Zoning Board of Appeals decision approving it lying down.

The ZBA granted a special permit to the new doggie day care center at 9 Franklin Street on Nov. 30. The permit was for a nine-month trial period.

The opening of the doggie day center, operated by Jermaine Anderson's Loyal Canines, will be delayed pending a decision by the Land Court.

The neighbors, who live adjacent to the proposed center on Franklin and Foster streets, filed an appeal of the ZBA order. The appeal by attorney William Quinn said the doggie day care center “will cause damage to their property interests and rights and will be more detrimental to them and their properties than the existing use.”

The appeal, which names the ZBA, the owner of the property and the Loyal Canines, also said that the ZBA “acted arbitrarily, capriously and against the overwhelming weight of evidence presented to it and exceeded its authority by issuing a special permit.”

The law allows the ZBA to approve only those businesses that are less detrimental than the previous business there. A flooring company leased the space before.

The property at 9-11 Franklin Street is a series of commercial businesses called the Gerren Center. Other businesses located there include auto repair shops, a restoration business and a karate studio.

Loyal Canines plans to construct a six-foot high fence to enclose an area 32 feet by 24 feet where the dogs can run. The center would operate five days a week between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Training would be offered by appointment on weekends. The ZBA was told the plan is to care for up to 50 dogs.

Limiting the Size of the Pack

The appeal maintains that land use laws require that a commercial kennel operate on at least five acres of land. And it contends that the ZBA should have set a limit on the number of dogs that could be in the center at any one time.

Jay Goldberg, who owns the Gerren Center, told the ZBA that dog wastes would be disposed in a dumpster and picked up daily. The appeal maintains that the ZBA should have made that a condition of the special permit.

“The odors and the noise (from the doggie day care center) will pollute and be blight on the neighborhood,” the appeal states.

Paul Prevey, who opposed the special permit, said, “it is a great idea for a business. It is just in the wrong location.”

Prevey said it will create a quality of life issue for the neighbors. In his letter to the ZBA, he wrote: “Approving this special permit would only, yet again, add another type of business, which would create unnecessary noise for the neighborhood.”

Asked how he felt about the neighbors filing an appeal, Prevey said, “I am very happy.”

Dorothy Healey Lemelin complained to the ZBA that the dogs would be a nuisance with excessive barking and urine and other smells. And, she fears that the dogs could spread disease.

“We are very disappointed in the way that the zoning board went about this,” said Kathleen Meadowcraft, who lives on Foster Street.

The neighbors raised the money to pay for appeal to be filed. They are asking for their attorney's fee and court costs to be reimbursed.