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1. This Kennel, If Approved, Sets Precedent for future development. This Would Allow Uses Considered "Industrial" By the City of Santa Rosa, To Be Near Santa Rosa Neighborhoods. Under Santa Rosa zoning this kennel would have to be placed in an industrial area under industrial zoning, Yet, neighboring Sonoma County, directly across Highway 12 (where this kennel is located) has to place multiple restrictions in place for this to fit in its current location.  It has to have a special "Use Permit" approved in order to fit into this property. 

2. This Kennel is directly across Highway 12 from the huge retirement community of Oakmont (Santa Rosa). Four neighborhoods of over 200 homes have registered their opposition. In addition, there are numerous homes and businesses on the county side that will be negatively impacted--and they also oppose this kennel.

3. Noise issues are huge. There could be up to 20 dogs at a time outdoors--with noise and barking. Even with proposed sound remediation to the kennel building, this does not address sounds of outdoor dogs barking. Neighbors have no confidence that there will be compliance or credible remediation if there are problems. 

4. Traffic issues are of prime concern. Highway 12, in front of this kennel, is heavily traveled with a posted speed of 55 mph. Traffic analysis, by the applicant, shows average speeds are 57 mph. There have been numerous accidents along this stretch of road.   Four collisions (instead of 3 reported earlier) have happened directly in front of the Meadows Kennel on Highway 12  since the March 2012 hearing--two of these were major collisons: a 5-car pile up and a 3-car pile-up. The other two were rear-end collisions.

There is no left-turn lane from Highway 12, making any left-hand turn out of or into the kennel area extremely dangerous, especially with Highway 12 speeds of 57 mph.  Narrow shoulders nearby, are heavily used by bicyclists and pedestrians, adding even more problems of safety to this mix.  

 Add to this all the winery traffic and future development and even more traffic will be added to this roadway.  Current and near future development (in the immediate area alone)  consists of:  Elnoka Village; more residential at Oakmont with 36 more homes, beginning soon,  at Oakmont Druve and Highway 12;  7 wineries near or in development stages in lands across from Oakmont, Ledson Winery seeking a big commercial facility of over 30,000 sq. ft of structures off of Frey Road.  Without any kind of turn lane --this is a recipe for disaster. 

5. Contrary to what Meadows Kennel contends, we found over 36 daycare and boarding kennels in Santa Rosa: many of these are easy driving distance from this area.

6. Any kennel expansion (from the present 10 dogs, with daycare only) has a negative impact on all nearby property values. California disclosure laws would apply and property values would suffer. Three real estate agents have confirmed that a nearby kennel would have to be disclosed and would negatively impact property values.  McBride real estate has even written a letter to the county stating this.

Oakmont letters of support for this kennel, which we have analyzed, show:  1 supporter lived nearby; 2 lived 3/4 mile away, all the rest lived at least a mile or more away--thus supporters do not have to suffer negative impacts.  It's easy to support the kennel as long as you don't have to live near it!

For all these reasons we urge the Supervisors and BZA members to deny this kennel expansion.