Attorney Mark Dove addresses North Vernon City Council
NORTH VERNON, Ind. — Several North Vernon residents gathered at the City Council meeting on Monday, March 31, to plead their case to the board regarding a new neighbor who has installed a kennel of allegedly several large dogs in their backyard on South Street.
The objections varied from noise complaints to health hazards, property devaluation, concerns for the dogs’ quality of life, and risk to children should any of the dogs escape. Commenters begged the board to consider their concerns and take action.
The kennel owners, who run a dog-training company out of Scottsburg called Aoife Haus Police K9 LLC, were not at the City Council meeting due to a family medical situation. Their comments regarding this matter can be found here.
According to the Jennings County Area Plan Commission, the couple has stated that they are not running a business out of the home. If they were, Area Plan said they would need to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals to get a special use permit for a home-based business. For now, due to the noise complaints, Area Plan has sent the couple a letter regarding the noise of the dogs barking, which violates their sound ordinance. They added that the couple did have to apply to get a kennel license from Jennings County Animal Control.
According to Animal Control, the type of kennel license they obtained is for breeding purposes, which is considered commercial. Michelle Matern with Animal Control said the license purchased was for 10-25 dogs, as generally, a dog has approximately eight puppies in a litter, and the couple wanted to be sure they were covered for all dogs in their home. In Indiana, you are considered a commercial breeder if you maintain more than 19 unaltered females 12 months of age or older, you sell at least 500 dogs/puppies in a calendar year, or are licensed with the USDA.
Regarding the couple installing a kennel in their backyard, Matern said, “I most definitely didn’t have any concerns, especially since there are no zoning restrictions in that area. I sure wish this wasn’t causing so much turmoil between neighbors.”
Matern added that the couple aren’t the only breeders in town, but wished there was no breeding going on since they are struggling to find homes for stray and abandoned dogs in Jennings County.
When North Vernon Code Enforcement Officer Elise Allen was contacted regarding how the kennel may or may not break with city ordinances, she responded that, because of the potential for litigation regarding this matter, she could not make any comments at this time.
