Dogs await their day; chicks get nixed

TILTON — A proposal to relocate the Chic Dog Hotel from Gilmanton to Tilton will remain unresolved until the next meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment because, with one member absent, the board could not muster a majority to decide on the application.

“It was very challenging,” dog hotel owner Brittany Maia said of Tuesday’s meeting. She said she will work to pull together the answers to some of the questions raised about her operation during the hearing.

Town Planner Dari Sassan said two motions to approve the plan failed to garner a second — necessary to bring the motion to a vote — and a third motion, to deny the application, failed on a 2-2 tie vote.

The principal concern had to do with the potential noise from the facility, proposed for 504 Laconia Road. Maia is seeking permission to have a maximum of 42 dogs — the same number allowed at her current facility on Route 106 in Gilmanton — but she said she typically would have no more than 25 dogs during the day and no more than 10 overnight. The higher number would allow her to provide grooming and obedience training at the facility.

Maia said the dogs would be outside in supervised play groups numbering no more than eight, explaining that they put together a small dog group, a senior dog group, and an energetic dog group for play time.

The dog hotel does not have traditional outdoor chain-link kennels, she said in her application. Instead, there are separate rooms, divided by sheetrock, “so that the dogs are in a more homelike setting. Accordingly, dogs are in a more controlled environment and endless barking is not tolerated, as it detracts from the overall functioning of the dog hotel.”

The facility would provide overnight and vacation care for dogs.

Maia said, “I understand their concerns about the noise,” but said she will be seeking testimony from the Gilmanton Police Department and nearby Gilmanton residents to verify that there have been no noise complaints at the current location, where she has operated the dog hotel since June 2016.

She said is looking to relocate the dog hotel because it would be closer to home and to her daughter’s school.

Sassan said the board voted to continue the hearing to allow the fifth member to participate in the decision.

Chickens

The zoning board also was scheduled to consider two requests for variances to allow people to keep chickens in a residential area. One applicant — Aimee Amirault of 91 Winter St. — asked for a continuance, so she did not appear; but the other applicant, Jonathan Matteau of 21 Mountain View Drive, did return in an ongoing case before the board.

Matteau has had chickens on his property for more than a year, without seeking a variance as required by the town’s zoning regulations. Sassan said the town was not aware of the chickens on his property until neighbors complained about the birds.

While the general layout of the property was a concern — the chicken coop is close to the property line — Sassan said the bigger concern was the objection by abutters. One of the criteria for approving a variance is that there be “no objection based on demonstrable fact,” and Sassan said all of the members present felt that was not the case, in light of the neighbors’ complaints.

As a result, the ZBA rejected Matteau’s request for the variance, and he will have to get rid of the chickens.