“Your presence is requested at the City of Lewisburg’s City Council meeting to discuss the business license issued to Lil Rhody Labs at 188 Lamplighter Drive,” read a letter received by Stephanie Robert, owner of Lil Rhody Labs.
Lil Rhody Labs is a home operated dog breeding business that specializes in in labrador retrievers. They have two breeding dogs, Chase and Luna, which have a litter of puppies or two each year.
The letter received on August 1 called Robert to the City Council, but didn’t fully explain what the purpose of the meeting would be. A statement made by Chuck Smith, Zoning Officer for the city of Lewisburg, in the July council meeting offered the explanation.
“It came to our attention that a business license was issued by the city for an address in Lamplighter,” said Smith. “It turned out it was a dog breeder, which is not allowed in a residential district. I think we just inadvertently issued a license without looking to see in what district the address was. … [Lewisburg’s Attorney’s] recommendation was that we revoke the license.”
In the August City Council meeting, a legal debate began; what exactly is a kennel? What exactly is a dog breeder? The business license Lil Rhody Labs applied for reads “dog breeder,” which the state code defines as “any person who maintains eleven or more unsterilized dogs over the age of one year for the exclusive purpose of actively breeding [and] is engaged in the business of breeding dogs as household pets for direct or indirect sale or for exchange in return for consideration.” This definition was the guiding point for Robert as she tried to legitimize what she called a “family hobby.” She received the state license in April.
The problem arises out of the Lewisburg City Code; Robert’s home is in a residential district of Lewisburg, which prohibits any kind of kennel. A city of Lewisburg business license was issued to Lil Rhody Labs in July, but an unnamed city hall employee issued the license without checking the zoning of the address listed. As the code stands, anyone who has any kind of building or home that houses “dogs, cats, or other household pets where keeping, grooming, breeding, boarding, selling, or training of animals is conducted as a business” would be out of compliance, unless the facility or home is north of Brush Road. But because the code does not mention a minimum number of animals, Lewisburg’s lawyer, Tom White, recommended the license be revoked.
“A mistake was made back when Ms. Robert applied for this license for 188 Lamplighter Drive,” said White. “The type of business for which a license was requested was specifically stated as dog breeding. Under Lewisburg City Code, Section 133502, subsection 45, dog breeding … is not permitted in the R-0 district. This particular residence falls under the R-0 district.”
Although Robert’s lawyer only received the vague letter to prepare a defense, he countered with whether or not a business license was necessary for the amount of dogs.
“These are two family dogs … that occasionally have babies, and, through an abundance of caution, they sought this license to do the right thing,” said ____. “I’m not sure that a business license is needed for for people who have a couple of dogs who [have a few babies] that they get rid of.”
Robert also alleges that the center of the debate lies not with the zoning issue with her license, but with neighbors and the Lamplighter Homeowner’s Association. Once the forum was opened to public comment, Jeanne Crandall, President of the association, spoke up.
“It is against the covenance to have a kennel or to breed animals, to have any kind of business that is, quote, ‘detrimental,’” said Crandall. “I have had several members of the neighborhood come to me and say that the dogs have been menacing towards them when they are walking .. the dogs were taken for a walk without a leash with [the Robert’s] kids, one did not have a collar on. … The kennel fence is inside a properly sized fence but [the Roberts] are kind of pushing the envelope with the fence sizes.”
When asked by Lewisburg Major John Manchester, Police Chief Stover said there had not been any complaints about dogs in Lamplighter.
“From the outside you could not tell that we have breeding dogs,” Robert said. “They are family pets. This makes us look like a puppy mill. We are not a puppy mill. Its a family hobby [and] we are trying to do the right thing getting the license and paying taxes. I’m fighting to save my image. There is not code in the city that says you have to spay or neuter your pets, so I went the legal way by getting a business license. There are people who do it everyday on Craigslist or Facebook, and it’s not being brought to City Council. They live inside. This is mainly a neighbor issue.”
Mayor Manchester pushed the council’s decision on the business license to the September City Council meeting, with several City Council members stating that the letter provided to Robert did not give enough information for their lawyer to properly to defend his client. Manchester also stated that even if the license had been revoked in August, that is the only action they would have taken, and this would give the Homeowner’s association time to have an internal debate.
Read more in the Friday, August 25, edition of The West Virginia Daily News.
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