Sudbury kennel owner says city error has her 'jumping through hoops'

A Sudbury business owner says an error from the city's bylaw office could cost her her livelihood.

DarleneNicholson owns Friends Fur-Ever Pet Resort,a free-range dog kennel in Lively.

Nicholson received a business licence from the city in 2013. Since then, she says she's built a client base of more than 1,000 customers.

To accommodate her business's growth, Nicholson says she wanted to expand and puta second building on her property. It was to bean indoor space fordogs to play,and a place to offer hydrotherapy for dogs recovering from surgery.

New building? Need minor variance

Nicholsonapplied to the city in December of 2016 for a minor variance, which is a request for relief from a bylaw. In Sudbury, dog kennels need to be at least 300 metres from other residential buildings, including neighbours.

Nicholson says she thought she needed a minor variance, because a new neighbour is building a house less than 100 metres from where she wants her second building to go.

But when the matter of distance was brought up to the city, Nicholson says employeesrealized they shouldn't have issued her a business licence in the first place.

A document from the city reads: "The applicant advised the existing kennel was constructed as an accessory structure in 2007, with the benefit of a building permit, and was converted to a kennel in 2013, without benefit of a building permit. A business licence was incorrectly issued by the City for the kennel use in 2013, with inspections being completed yearly. The applicant was also advised that she was not aware that a change-of-use permit for the accessory structure to a kennel use was required."

Nicholson didn't havea building permit for the kennel building, which she says she converted from a shed.

Nicholson's request for a minor variance was denied. And now, she says her business licence under reviewwith the city because her initial building the one she's been running since 2013 violates the city's bylaws.

"All of this stems from that little mistake in 2013," says Nicholson.

"Every year we stayedin business, that mistake got bigger and bigger and bigger because we have more customers andwe have a bigger facility," says Nicholson.

Neighbours weigh in

The issue has caused tension in the surrounding community.

The city called a community meeting, alerting neighbours of the minor variance request. Those who showed up realized thebusiness shouldn't have been started in the first place. Many, like Matthew Wiecha, say they'reupset not only about the dog kennel, but with the city.

"We're not vindictive, we don't want to go back, but you made a mistake fix it. Remove that licence and have them move somewhere else," says Wiecha, who lives less than a kilometre from the kennel.

"I don't have much against those people. I'm sure they're qualified, they love their animals that's not the issue. The issue is you can't keep 25 dogs quiet."

Wiecha says he and a few other neighbours have been upset about the noise of the dogs before, and says the only solution to the problem is to move the business somewhere else.

"Even if it's just a couple people and their lives are turned upside down and their dream home has been turned into a nightmare, that's still wrong," he says.

"I've been here 30 years and 27 of them have been like heaven. But the last three have just been terrible, so it would be nice to get back to the way it was."

'Jumping through hoops'

Nicholson says she sees three possible outcomes to this situation.

The first is that she's granted the minor variance. The second is she applies for a re-zoning, which could change the city's bylaw rule about the 300-metre distance.

Both of those options would take months, and damage her relationship with her neighbours, she says.

But the third outcome moving her family home isn't appealing either.

"I'm jumping through hoops to try and fix it. Not only for myself [but for]my husband [and] my family, because this is all we do. This is our complete income," says Nicholson.

"We've put our entire retirement savings plan into this building and this business knowing Sudbury needs a kennel like this."

Business in limbo?

CBC News has reached out to the city for a response to this issue, but has yet to receive a reply.

In the meantime, Nicholson says shewill appeal to the OntarioMunicipalBoard because she wants theminor variance to be put in place.

She also says she's filed Freedom of Information requests with the city to obtain a copy of her initial business licence, copies of bylaw complaints against her business since it opened, and any results of sound tests the city may have done to test the loudness of the kennel.

"We're talking months of time here where we're sitting in limbo and we don't know if they're going to close us," Nicholson continues.

"Do we put more money into the business or not?Clearly not at this point, because we don't know if they're going to close us."