Danville dog business can continue construction after injunction denied

Published 11:01 am Friday, February 7, 2020

A request for a temporary injunction on the construction of a commercial dog kennel on North Maple Avenue was denied in Boyle Circuit Court Wednesday.

James Hinkle and Sue Pease, whose properties adjoin the planned kennel, filed the motion Jan. 30 against Wendy Howard, who is building the facility, and Control Wiring & Solutions Services Group Inc., which owns the property, located on North Maple, with an address of 1845 Harrodsburg Road. 

The motion also named Boyle County Building Inspector Rusty Cox and Danville-Boyle County Planning and Zoning Commission for their part in approving the zoning and building permits for the project. 

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The motion states that in November, the county adopted dramatic revisions to its zoning ordinance just nine days after Howard requested a zoning permit under the old regulations. The new regulation now requires a commercial kennel to be set back 500 feet “from any residential use or district.”

The motion argues that the zoning permit and subsequent building permit issued to Howard could not be “grandfathered in” because Howard’s “plans and specifications submitted with the application for the building permit are drastically different from the ones submitted with the earlier zoning permit…” Therefore the plans were “not complete prior to the Nov. 27, 2019, effective date of the new sections of the zoning ordinance… Because the plans and specifications were incomplete… protections for previously approved complete plans and specifications do not apply.”

On Thursday, Howard said she didn’t want to comment on the legal action taken against her planned kennel, but wanted to state a few facts because misinformation has been circulating around.

She currently owns and operates a 1,600-foot commercial kennel named Parker’s Place on Nield Road in Boyle County. Howard said her business has “outgrown its walls,” so she’s building a 5,000-square-foot indoor facility, which will also be named Parker’s Place.

The kennel will not be a breeding facility, Howard said. “I’m just a girl whose dog has had three litters in six years.”

The kennel will be an indoor “play yard” where there will be overnight boarding, daycare and grooming for dogs, she said.

“All dogs will be housed inside the building. … There will be no outdoor runs,” she said. However a green space will surround the property, where dogs will be walked and can go outside on pretty days, Howard explained.

“They won’t be running around outside wild,” she said.