Five residents living near Sit. Stay. filed the appeal Friday, arguing the township zoning hearing board issued two variances without proof that the kennel, and noise from its dogs, would not “alter the essential character of the neighborhood.”
Five residents living along Winding Lane, near doggie day care and boarding business Sit. Stay., filed an appeal Friday in county court, challenging township zoners’ decision to render the kennel a permitted business.
The zoning hearing board issued Sit. Stay. two variances in December, allowing it to operate on the 18.8-acre Roberts family farm off Washington Crossing Road, short of a 25-acre minimum space requirement for kennels in the township’s conservation management district, and located 205 feet, rather than at least 300 feet from one neighboring home. [Read “Sit, Stay Doggie Day Care Allowed to Stay Says Newtown Township Zoning Hearing Board”]
The appeal argues the zoners approved the variances in error because Sit. Stay. did not prove that the farm’s “unique physical conditions” posed unnecessary hardship preventing it from being used in conformity with local code. The appeal was filed by five residents, four of whom belong to one family.
“This is a case of self-created hardship, as a result of the applicant’s decision to have (a dog kennel) use on the property due to (her) desire to maximize the land for her highest financial gain,” said attorney Scott MacNair in court documents.
Sit. Stay. met the “unnecessary hardship” standard because it could not change its acreage to meet the minimum space requirement for kennels; the business also presented evidence of economic hardship, per the zoning decision.
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