WESTFIELD—After what could be considered an unexpected finding, the Westfield Planning Board continued a hearing on a proposed dog day care and boarding facility on Southwick Road.
Residents and others filled the City Council Chambers at City Hall on Tuesday night, as part of the public hearing related to a proposed indoor-only dog day care and boarding facility which could house up to 80 dogs, located at Zuber’s Restaurant on Southwick Road. However, residents did not voice their concerns or support in the public hearing to the board because the hearing was continued following information relayed by Planning Board Chair Philip McEwan and a request by Rob Levesque of R. Levesque Associates, who represented the applicant Agawam Dog Works for the proposal.
The hearing began with Levesque describing the proposal, including addressing the concern of noise from the facility that has arisen in recent weeks. Among this, Levesque said that the plan had been changed to an indoor-only facility, having no outdoor areas for dogs.
In addition, the buildings would be constructed with additional sound-proofing measures to reduce noise pollution in the area.
“A metal building with six inches of foam insulation inside and acoustic panels inside,” Levesque said of the construction.
Residents and others filled City Council Chambers at City Hall during the Oct. 17 Planning Board meeting. The crowd largely dispersed following the hearing.
However, during the hearing, Levesque was informed by McEwan that commercial kennels, which McEwan deemed the project to be, were not allowed in the zone that the project was proposed.
The issue that arose was due to the amount of dogs that could be in the facility, which exceeded the size of a residential kennel and thus qualified as a commercial kennel, according to McEwan. Commercial kennels, according to McEwan, are not allowed in business A zoning, where the proposal is located. Instead, they are allowed in rural-residential and industrial A zonings.
According to Westfield zoning ordinance definitions under section 2-10.1, “Definitions,” provided by McEwan during the meeting, a residential kennel can have between four to nine dogs, six months or older, as “companion animals or pets, or for breeding,” while a commercial kennel is defined as a place used for any or all of the following: boarding or training in-residence of dogs or cats; day care of dogs or cats other than those someone owns; 10 or more dogs or cats older than six months that are “kept as companion animals or pets” or used for or from breeding.
These definitions and limits were also sourced from the Westfield Zoning Ordinance by The Westfield News.
Levesque said after the meeting that he believed that business A zoning does allow for the use of a “pet kennel” through special permit, and said that he discussed the plans previously with the city’s zoning enforcement officer and planner.
“We believe, as does the zoning enforcement officer and planner, and as determined on the zoning determination application, that kennels as defined under the zoning ordinance is allowed,” Levesque said.
Levesque also said after that “pet kennel” is not defined in the zoning.
During the meeting, McEwan noted that this could have been done in error.
“There may have been mistakes made and I apologize if there were,” McEwan said.
“We appreciate the planning board allowing us to continue in order to address questions from the chair,” Levesque said after the meeting. “We expect to resolve the questions raised by the chairman within the next week to determine the next course of action for next meeting.”
The public hearing is tentatively scheduled to be continued on Nov. 21.
