Case 8/13/2024–3
Summary
- Lot
- M-66
- Address
- 87 Abbot Hill Acres Road
- Owners
- Nickolas Carlson
- Melissa Eastley
- John Eric Harold Jacobsen
- Applicant
- Melissa Eastley
- Relief Requested
- Special exception under section 5.3.1 of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance
- Purpose
- To allow a dog boarding-and-training business as a home occupation.
- Application
- The application
- The abutter list.
- The house floor plan.
- Status
- Final
Documents
Messages of support submitted by the applicant
- Letter from the officers of Freedom Pond Cooperative (New Ipswich mobile home community)
- Message from New Ipswich neighbor Lena Petty
Letters Received
- Letter from Gregory Beals, Treasurer, Hookset Permanent Firefighters Association
- Letter from Kathleen Coombs, Director, Kid Adventures
Additional information submitted by the applicant
- Fire emergency plan, submitted September 9
- Additional details — boarding and training plan and daily schedule, submitted September 9
- Property values opinion from Realtor Matthew Biler, submitted September 10
Abutter Submissions
Wednesday, August 14, 2024 — Hearing
Notice
Nickolas Carlson, Melissa Eastley, and John Eric Harold Jacobsen (owners) and Melissa Eastley (applicant) have requested a special exception under section 5.3.1 of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance to allow a dog boarding-and-training business as a home occupation on Lot M-66, 87 Abbot Hill Acres Road.
The Town of Wilton Zoning Board of Adjustment will consider this application in a public hearing on Wednesday, August 14, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in the Wilton Town Hall Courtroom, 42 Main Street.
Case Continued
The hearing on the request by Nickolas Carlson, Melissa Eastley, and John Eric Harold Jacobsen (owners) and Melissa Eastley (applicant) for a special exception under section 5.3.1 of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance has been continued to Tuesday, September 10, 2024. If granted, the requested relief would allow a dog boarding-and-training business as a home occupation on Lot M-66, 87 Abbot Hill Acres Road.
Minutes
Sunday, September 8, 2024 — Site Visit
Notice
Nickolas Carlson, Melissa Eastley, and John Eric Harold Jacobsen (owners) and Melissa Eastley (applicant) have requested a special exception under section 5.3.1 of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance to allow a dog boarding-and-training business as a home occupation on Lot M-66, 87 Abbot Hill Acres Road.
The Town of Wilton Zoning Board of Adjustment will meet on Sunday, September 8, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. at 87 Abbot Hill Acres Road to hold a site visit for this application. The site visit is a continuation of the public hearing on the case, and is open to the public. Its purpose is to assist the Board members and other interested parties to become familiar with the property involved in the application. Board members and other interested parties may, through the Board chairperson, ask questions about, and the applicant may point out, site details pertaining to the application, such as boundaries, contours, proposed buffers, driveways, etc. No other testimony will be taken, and no other discussion should occur.
Minutes
Tuesday, September 10, 2024 — Continuation
Notice
Nickolas Carlson, Melissa Eastley, and John Eric Harold Jacobsen (owners) and Melissa Eastley (applicant) have requested a special exception under section 5.3.1 of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance to allow a dog boarding-and-training business as a home occupation on Lot M-66, 87 Abbot Hill Acres Road.
The Town of Wilton Zoning Board of Adjustment will continue its public hearing on this application on Tuesday, September 10, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in the Emergency Operations Center of the Wilton Fire Station, 102 Main Street (park across the street, NOT in the Fire Station parking lot; enter at the WEST end of the building).
Notice of Decision
(Download the formal decision notice as a PDF file.)
The request by Nickolas Carlson, Melissa Eastley, and John Eric Harold Jacobsen (owners) and Melissa Eastley (applicant) for a special exception under section 5.3.1 of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance has been granted. It will allow a dog boarding-and-training business as a home occupation on Lot M-66, 87 Abbot Hill Acres Road.
This decision shall expire if the construction or use permitted by it has not begun by Thursday, September 10, 2026. (Wilton Zoning Ordinance section 17.4)
The selectmen, any party to the action or proceedings, or any person directly affected thereby may apply for a rehearing of this decision. A request for a rehearing must be filed in writing with the Zoning Board of Adjustment on or before Thursday, October 10, 2024, and must fully specify all grounds on which the rehearing is requested. (N.H. RSA 677:2)
Findings of Fact
- The subject property is a single-family home on a one-acre lot in an established neighborhood of single-family homes on one-acre lots in the Residential District.
- The applicant has an existing dog training business. She proposes to use her home for boarding of up to three client dogs for training primarily elsewhere, with limited training inside the home, and no training outside the home.
- The Zoning Board conducted a site visit at the property on Sunday, September 5, 2024, and were able observe the neighborhood, the outside of the property, and the inside of the basement where the client dogs will be boarded.
Conditions of Approval
The approval of the special exception is subject to the following conditions on the operation of the home occupation. Note that these conditions do not apply to dogs owned by the applicant or other residents of the property, although such personally owned dogs are subject to all Town dog regulations.
These conditions are mostly taken from a document titled “Paws from Heaven Board & Training Information and Daily Routine” (included in the case file), and were agreed to by the applicant at the hearing on the application.
- A maximum of three client dogs will be kept in the home.
- Aggressive or reactive dogs will not be accepted for boarding on the property.
- Client dogs will never be left alone. The applicant will always be present when they are in the house.
- There will be no client visits to the property. Clients will drop off and pick up their dogs elsewhere, and the applicant will transport them to and from the property.
- All training will take place either inside the house or off site, never outside the house or elsewhere in the neighborhood.
- Client dogs will be taken outside only for “potty” sessions in the applicant’s back yard or when being transported to or from the property.
- All client dogs will wear 2 leashes when outside (one 6' tabbed slip lead and one 15–20' longline attached to a flat collar), and must be fully under control at all times.
- Barking will be subject to the requirements of Section 4.10.2, “Noise,” of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance.
- The applicant has provided a document titled “Paws from Heaven Fire Plan” (included in the case file), which indicates how client dogs will be securely restrained in the event that emergency evacuation should be necessary.
Reasons for Approval
- The proposed home occupation obviously satisfies requirements of paragraphs (a) through (g) of Section 5.3.1 of the Zoning Ordinance. (Paragraphs (h) and (i) do not define distinct actionable requirements.)
- Because the activity associated with the home occupation will be almost entirely inside the house, it should have a negligible effect on the character of the neighborhood.
- Although some neighbors expressed the opinion that the home occupation will adversely affect neighborhood property values, the only formal opinion submitted was an opinion by realtor Matthew Blier of Coldwell Bankers Realty (included in the case file) with the opposite conclusion.
- The Zoning Board found that the applicant’s description of the procedures to be followed when handling client dogs, which are included in the Conditions of Approval above, adequately addresses safety concerns raised by some neighbors.