More than eight months after a first public meeting, Guelph-Eramosa council has finally passed a new bylaw for the regulation and licencing of kennels.
Last September, about a dozen people attended a public meeting to debate the merits of the proposed bylaw.
The room was fairly evenly split that night, with about half the residents complaining about barking from Cedar Ridge Kennels, located on the Indian Trail of County Road 29, and the other half arguing against any bylaw that would restrict the operation of their business.
That night, David Locke, owner and operator of the kennel, presented council with a petition signed by 23 nearby residents who had no complaints about the noise from his business.
But at a subsequent public meeting on May 31 only half a dozen residents attended, with most expressing concern that measures included in the new draft bylaw that were intended to mitigate the noise were not strict enough.
Those measures included prohibiting barking from 10pm to 7am and outlawing continuous barking in excess of 2 hours for the rest of the day.
“It is continuous throughout the day and night,” Indian Trail resident Val Findlay said on May 31 of the barking from Cedar Ridge Kennels. She added neighbours want some solution to the “unacceptable noise that is affecting our quality of life.”
Locke did not attend the May 31 meeting, but last year said he is against the bylaw and stressed the barking often comes from other dogs living nearby.
Councillors told residents on?May 31 they were trying to find the best solution for everybody.
“We can’t make it a perfect world – all we can do is try to harmonize peoples’ priorities,” councillor Reta Moyer said.
Mayor Chris White agreed and said council will re-visit the new bylaw within six to 12 months of its passing.
“All we can do is utilize the tools at hand to try to find a solution,” White said.
Council last week unanimously passed the new kennel bylaw, as well as a revised bylaw for the registration and licencing of dogs. Councillor Roger Knapp was absent.
None of the residents who attended the earlier public meetings were present, although White explained he talked to Locke and the kennel owner seemed okay with the revised bylaw.
