BLOOMSBURG – An owner of a doggie daycare cannot expand his business after the Zoning Hearing Board here denied his request for a variance following neighbors’ complaints about the noise his canine clients make.

Austin Onisick is the owner of Doggie Playroom, a dog daycare located at 73 E. Ninth St. He planned to expand his business into a section of the attached Suntex Laundry building at 75 E. Ninth St. He aimed to reduce noise and create a separate resting area for the dogs.

But the 2013 variance Onisick received to allow for a dog kennel or daycare in a mixed-use district was only for the business’ existing footprint. So, Onisick had requested a zoning permit to expand into the  back room of Suntex, an area that’s been vacant for at least five years.

Because the business isn’t a permitted use, Michael Reffeor, Bloomsburg’s director of code enforcement and zoning officer, denied it.

Onisick appealed Reffeor’s decision to the Zoning Hearing Board on July 10. About two dozen people, including neighbors who complained about the noise level and supporters of the business expansion, attended the meeting.

Limitations

Onisick’s current business is 20 feet wide and 100 feet long. Allowing the expansion would have added 40 feet to the business’s width, enabling better management of dogs, the owner said.

“If a dog is getting a little too rowdy or running around hard, and they’re panting hard, they need a break. We need to put them in a crate, but they still see all the other dogs running around. So, it’s hard for them to relax when they see all their friends out here having a good time,” Onisick said.

The area that Onisick hoped to expand into would have provided a wall between energetic and tired dogs, he said.

A zoning variance would benefit the dogs, his employees, and the town, as about 70% of his clients are town residents, Onisick told the board.

The current zoning

However, the daycare’s zoning district only allows for residential structures and businesses such as gas stations, automobile repair shops, bakeries, convenience stores and dry cleaners, among others.

It specifically prohibits dog daycare centers and kennels.

So, residents like Joe Sabo, 860 Iron St., came out to address concerns about the expansion.

“If you hear one dog constantly barking, that’s a little annoying. You have two dogs doing it. It’s more than annoying. You have 20 dogs doing it. It’s vexing. It goes right through your skin, and it gets to the point where you can’t even think after being subjected to it,” Sabo said. 

Sabo declined to answer questions after the meeting. He was represented by Attorney Rob Davidson during the hearing.

Complaints

He was joined by about 10 neighbors who voiced their concerns, as well.

Lisa Ziller, 6 E. Middle Ave., said that along with the noise, she believed she could hear employees yelling curse words at the dogs.

“There’s a multitude of things here. You have the dogs barking, but you also have the noise coming from the dog daycare, with the people trying to control the dogs using profanities. I don’t want to have my grandkids outside  playing when someone’s yelling the F-word,” Ziller said.

Onisick told the Press Enterprise after the meeting that a lot of dogs have names like “Buck” or “Kit” that “at a distance can sound like curse words,” he said.

He did acknowledge that an employee called one dog an “a-----e,” but it “was said in a joking manner, and that was one of our employees’ dogs,” Onisick said.

Joyce Brobst, 854 Iron St., said Onisick should research a new location.

“His business is good. He’s doing well. I wonder if he has looked into a new location that would take away his stress and take away the stress from the neighborhood,” Brobst said.

However, Onisick said, that the variance allowing a dog daycare at the current location wouldn’t go away even if he moved.Another company could move in and put it to the same use.

“I couldn’t live with myself if someone else came to this place and used it just for money,” he said.

Onisick told the Press Enterprise that he isn’t going anywhere.

Lawyer Argues

Before the Zoning Hearing Board deliberated on the decision, Sabo’s attorney, Davidson, argued that the Doggie Playroom would need a variance to operate in the zoned area, as the zoning explicitly did not cover the planned expansion.

Onisick needed to show a reasonable use of the expansion area is impossible within the town's zoning laws and that the variance wouldn’t disrupt the character of the neighborhood, Davidson said.

“The applicant has failed to provide evidence that it has met any of the other requirements,” Davidson said in a closing statement.

He added that the town had recently amended its zoning ordinance and was aware of the daycare.

“If the town council wanted to permit the expansion of this facility, they would include this in the many uses permitted in this district. However, it chose not to include this use,” Davidson said.

Frustrated

After about 10 minutes of deliberation, the Zoning Hearing Board unanimously denied the variance because it could not meet the conditions required for a variance. The board did not go into what those conditions were.

Onisick said the expansion would have addressed many of his neighbors' complaints about noise. It would have allowed him to put the louder dogs inside and give a break to dogs who needed them.

Onisick said he already limits the number of dogs he cares for at 50, even though he has the capacity for more.

Onisick has 30 days from Thursday to appeal the decision; however, he is unsure whether he will appeal it.

“If it’s a losing battle, I don’t think I will fight it,” he said.

However, he is certain that he will stay in his current location.

Drew Mumich can be reached at 570-387-1234 ext. 1343 or drew.mumich@pressenterprise.net.