At a zoning meeting on Thursday, Jan. 27, the Palm Beach County Commission approved conditional use applications to allow limited pet boarding at two locations in The Acreage.
The approvals were made on 4-2 votes, and immediately after approving the applications, the board voted 6-0 to enact a zoning-in-progress moratorium to temporarily halt any further applications until county staff has written an ordinance placing limits on pet boarding.
Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, who pulled the items from the consent agenda, said they had been the subject of several contentious e-mails that commissioners had received and asked staff to make a presentation on it.
Kevin McGinley, representing the property owner, said this was the first pet boarding facility that had ever been discussed before the board.
“I’ve been taken through eight of them before, and it has always been on consent. It has always gone through without neighborhood opposition,” McGinley said. “They have always had unanimous support from the zoning commission.”
He said that pet boarding facilities sometimes work in concert with the training of animals, but they cannot be kept overnight without a pet boarding conditional use approval.
“These are seven animals, typically on an acre of property,” McGinley said, explaining that the scale goes up depending on the size of the property, and the owners can have three of their own. “Seven of them are restricted. They have to have a restricted play area, and they have restricted hours in which they can come out.”
He added that some clients care for only tiny lap dogs or dogs that require medication, or dogs that were trained for aggression and are being trained for de-escalation.
“I don’t have any clients that train for aggression or drug sniffing or things like that,” McGinley said. “Those tend to be ones that you buy from the owner as puppies, and they are trained by someone in a training facility, but not in a pet boarding facility.”
Palm Beach County Mayor Robert Weinroth asked what kind of protection the county has for neighbors, and Animal Care & Control staff said there is a nuisance ordinance that applies to everyone. It requires an affidavit to be filed that proves that there is a nuisance.
Site Planner James Borsos said the 1.15-acre subject property in The Acreage is located on a site with agricultural residential zoning. The single-family home with a detached garage has a proposed 1,560-square-foot outdoor area for animals. It is on the south side of 77th Place North, just east of Hall Blvd.
The applicant requested a Class A conditional use permit to allow limited pet boarding as an accessory use to the existing single-family residence to board a maximum of seven cats or dogs within the home.
“Comments from the public were received with a recommendation of approval from three, and one is opposed,” Borsos said.
The zoning board recommended approval unanimously. Staff recommended approval with conditions that the outdoor area is limited for use to between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. unless on a leash, and the owners or handlers must comply with Animal Care & Control requirements and be subject to inspections at any time.
McKinlay said the property has received numerous code enforcement complaints.
“This owner has already had a hard time abiding by the existing rules in our local codes,” she said. “What assurances do we have that if we give this approval that he is actually going to abide by that?”
Staff explained that the condition is included to ensure that the animals are kept in the primary residence and not in the accessory structure.
McKinlay said she pulled the items from the consent agenda because she felt it was never the intent of the county to allow dog training opportunities.
“I feel that some of these coming before us, this one and the other one, are fully encroaching on commercial operations, rather than a pet boarding operation,” she said, adding that while she does not expect to have the votes to stop the items before the board that day, changes are necessary. “Moving forward, I would like to put a moratorium on approving these until staff can go back and tweak our regulations. I think this one, after number two, will be the sixth of this type of operation in The Acreage alone.”
Commissioner Maria Sachs made a motion to approve the conditional use, which carried 4-2 with McKinlay and Commissioner Mack Bernard opposed and Commissioner Dave Kerner absent. A motion to approve the second pet boarding request also carried 4-2.
McKinlay then made a motion to enact a zoning-in-progress moratorium regarding the pet boarding ordinance, which carried 6-0.
