The South Jacksonville Plans Commission gave the green light for a special cottage business to proceed to the Village Board of Trustees for final approval.
Jamie Smith presented a business plan for a dog grooming/dog daycare business to be housed at her residence in the first block of Meadow Lane.
Smith said that she is in the process of getting her home and garage up to specifications to be approved for state licensing. Smith expects to bring in $68,000 annually with the business that will house 5-7 dogs during working hours while their owners are at work.
Two neighbors and a couple of commission members have worries about noise, aggressive dogs, dog waste, and insurance. Smith assured the Plans Commission she has taken into account those concerns and is taking the proper steps to abate any possible issues.
Village President Dick Samples and three trustees were in attendance for the meeting to hear Smith’s business plan and the final recommendations of the Plans Commission.
Samples says the business is an experiment that will need to be re-evaluated if it passes through the Board of Trustees: “What these fine folks here recommended tonight and approved…and the only other thing is that we will revisit this in 6 months because there are so many things that can go wrong. We don’t know. This is open ground for us. I don’t see any problem at all with the actual grooming of the dogs and all that. When you start putting 4 or 5 dogs together, then you have the potential of having problems with them barking and so on. If we can get away from the barking and all that…and [Smith] is talking about putting bark collars on the dogs, so that should eliminate a lot of things. But, you’ve got people who’ll say ‘You’re not putting a bark collar on my dog.’ That will be something that she has to work out with her clientele.”
The Plans Commission ultimately approved the dog daycare special use permit 4-0. The daycare will not be allowed to board dogs overnight or kennel them at all due to already established residence ordinances in the village. Plans Commission Chair Larry Moore said that the Plans Commission will draw up their final recommendations to present to the board of trustees for their meeting in September.