The Council heard a public meeting on a Zoning By-law Amendment for the property at 16356 Highway 17, which was looking for an amendment in order to apply for a kennel on the property.
CAO Burton said James Hubert made the application in order to build a kennel across highway 17.
“In this case he able to comply with the required setbacks.”
He said they weren’t making any decisions at this time and would return at February 1st
Lisa Kendell said she ‘wasn’t aware of this application until five minutes.,” but said she wanted to add that the PAWS action is ‘not completely written’ and therefore is ‘not a good guideline’.
She also said vets are not licensed inspectors and have been known to work with puppy mills, and have their licenses revoked, and also said that kennels could not be licensed if they didn’t comply with breeding guidelines “to protect the integrity of the breed.”
She said that “if they need CKC support, they cannot. No mutts. Designer dogs are just mutts.”
“How is this kennel not been addressed by current bylaws in 20 years?” David Alexander said, saying Council did not adequately inform the public of this second amendment regarding kennel creation..
He asked if an environmental impact study had been performed regarding potential contamination of the water, and cited the insufficiency of current bylaws once again.
Sally Wright from Renfrew spoke next.
“Why have you as a Township allowed this to continue if you knew that these men were breeding animals?” She said. “There was a reason they were not allowed to zone in 1992, Look it up, find out why.”
“This application was not made widely publically available. That’s something that we have to address on the county level” he said, asking the council to vote against this proposed Amendment.
Timothy Hubert said he lived with his father on that property.
“They kept him living, the property and dogs.” he said. “There are no neighbors on either side. It’s a long lone piece away. It’s ideal for dogs because it has no neighbors. There has to be some barking but it’s minimal/
James Hubert, the applicant, spoke next.
“So, we’ve had a lot of discussion around here. It’s centered mostly around hate. I expect that. I’ve been there a lotta years, we’ve made a lot of changes there. It looks like the Council wants to license everyone, and I think it’s a good thing. I want to work with everyone. The stuff on Facebook, I think it’s got a bit toxic.”
“The dogs that i have left there, they enjoy heated floors, there’s gas heat, they enjoy a good life. If you go on my Facebook. I didn’t import Parvo into the area, someone else did. If we want to license people, be fair and license everyone. I think it’s inappropriate to single a few people out.”
Mayor Nicholson concluded the public speaking portion of the meeting
“No fingerprints?” Asked James Hubert jokingly..
The motion to receive the report was passed, and the public was given a few moments to leave before the remaining items were presented, and paused the video feed.
