News

Dog groomer will try again for kennel OK

By Bill Moss, Published: July 5, 2012

The Hendersonville City Council on Thursday turned down a proposal to allow dog boarding throughout the central business district but gave a dog groomer the opportunity to seek permission for the business as a special use.Dawn Maki, the owner of Dogs'n'Suds on Washington Street, wants to expand her move her dog-grooming business to a location near the county jail and add doggie daycare and overnight boarding.
The Planning Board agreed with a committee's report and recommended that the City Council not allow kennels throughout the Central Mixed Use District. However, planner Sue Anderson said Maki could apply for permission for a kennel as a special use, if the council added that as an option in the Central Mixed Use District.
"I'm very satisfied with that because a special use is what I should have done to begin with," Maki said after the council's action. "I'm not interested in changing the ordinance for all of the CMU. I just want it for that particular piece of property."
The request must now go back to the Planning Board for its review.
Maki said people assume a kennel might create problems, as All Creatures Great and Small on Seventh Avenue did several years ago. And council member Jeff Collis referred to All Creatures when he explained why he agreed with the motion not to allow kennels throughout the central mixed-use zone.
"We had an issue several years ago with a facility in a high-density area," he said. "I don't want to open that up again."
Maki said a keeper will be at the shop with the dogs and they won't make a disturbance. She said last month that she is considering the buying property near the county jail but does not intend to go forward unless the city grants permission for the use.