Near-approval by Zoning Board brings prompts residents to speak out at City Council
OCEAN CITY — Although it is supposed to be extremely difficult to get the Zoning Board to approve a prohibited use, especially when there is an outcry of opposition from neighbors, a dog kennel almost succeeded at beating the odds during the board’s meeting March 19.
Those worried neighbors showed up in force at Ocean City Council’s meeting April 24, asking for action to ensure it won’t come to pass in the future if the applicant, JJG Property LLC, appeals the decision to Superior Court or reapplies to the Zoning Board.
In March, JJG Property asked for a D1 use variance to turn the building at 204 Seventh St. into a dog hotel/daycare facility.
Ordinances prohibit kennels or doggie day cares in any zone of the city. In January, Ocean City Council approved an ordinance that would allow that type of facility to get a mercantile license if the Zoning Board provided a variance for the use.
At the time, city Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson explained to council members that would be “a heavy lift” for any applicant because the Zoning Board would notify neighbors about the application and take into consideration their opposition given it is a prohibited use.
In spite of the opposition from neighbors, the Zoning Board narrowly denied the variance, voting 4-3 in favor. Five votes in favor are needed in the case of a prohibited use.
The applicant can reapply or appeal the decision to the Superior Court. At the council meeting, McCrosson reiterated the difficulty in getting an approval and said it also would be unlikely for the court to find in the appellant’s favor because it “would defer” to the Zoning Board as the knowledgable body in the community.
The solicitor said she did not read the application before the Zoning Board, only that neighbors spoke out and it was defeated. Regarding a court appeal, she added the applicant would have to prove the board acted in an arbitrary and capricious fashion which “is very difficult to do on denial of a zoning variance.”
Citizens who helped pack council chambers don’t want to take the chance.
During public comment, Collette Bellefeur said she lives a half-block from the proposed kennel site and was speaking for a large group of neighbors in opposition to the proposal. Making clear they love dogs and businesses in the area, they said they “were shocked and insulted” that a change to zoning “would allow a kennel to be dumped into our neighborhood” next to a church. She said they were worried about the values of their homes declining because of a business “that will stink it up.”
She called the council decision to allow mercantile licenses for that type of use “cavalier,” but then walked that back. She said neighbors were unanimous — 30-0 — against a kennel in the neighborhood.
When Council President Pete Madden said her time to speak during public comment was up, she initially refused.
“I’m not going to sit down,” Bellefleur said, but she did, and fellow neighbor Margaret DeFelice later finished Bellefleur’s statement to council.
DeFelice said she regularly walks with her grandchildren down the street by the neighboring church where congregants go every night and noted how they would be faced with dogs barking regularly. She also pointed out the smell from dog feces and urine that would emanate from the building.
Tom Heist has a buiding at 700 West Ave., which he said was close to the proposed kennel. He asked council to reverse the ordinance that would allow a mercantile license to be issued, saying kennels are not appropriate in Ocean City.
Heist said having a kennel would be a slap in the face to the members of St. James AME Church and asked whether the Zoning Board would have approved a kennel next to St. Peter’s United Methodist Church or the Ocean City Tabernacle.
He also asserted the applicant threatened to bring in other uses for his building that would be more unpopular.
“Do we want to make special concessions to someone who plays intimidation games?”
Do what’s right, Heist told council, and fix the unintended consequence of the mercantile license ordinance.
“Doing nothing is not a good option,” Heist said.
Shari Thompson, a trustee at Tabernacle Baptist Church at the corner of Eighth Street and West Avenue, another neighbor to the proposed kennel, said she wanted to go on the record that they oppose it.
“We are at the other end of where the kennel was proposed,” she said, noting they already have to “chase off folks with their dogs” not respecting the church property. “We don’t know what would happen if a kennel was there,” she said.
Thompson added that instead of officials thinking about what makes for a good business, they should think of what contributes to a better neighborhood.
“We want human beings to thrive and flourish first,” she said.
Council did not take any action. The Zoning Board agenda for the April 30 meeting did not include a new or revised application for a kennel.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
