Hanover approves dog kennel expansion

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This article was published 10/12/2014 (3800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A dog breeder in the RM of Hanover will be allowed to expand his operation after winning council’s approval on Wednesday morning.

Waldemar Polinski had requested conditional use approval to operate a dog breeding kennel on his 3.2 acre property on Rosengard Drive southwest of Steinbach. Polinski had been operating a kennel, without the municipality’s knowledge, with eight dogs of two different varieties: five American bullies and three French bulldogs.

Hanover planning director Jeremy Neufeld told council the kennel was already operating in non-compliance with municipal bylaws. When Polinski applied for a building permit for the expansion project, he was advised the conditional use approval would be necessary.

Council allowed an anonymous letter to be received in opposition to the plan. CAO Luc Lahaie said the document only arrived at the office on the day of the hearing and, though not common practice, Lahaie didn’t want to dismiss the ratepayers objection outright though his or her identity was never revealed at the public hearing.

The anonymous letter writer wrote of his or her concerns about the breeds of dogs at the kennel, suggesting the dogs could be aggressive, and expressed fears that “another tragedy could be right in our backyard.”

Neufeld pointed out Polinski is a registered breeder and a recent veterinary review of the property noted the dogs are well cared for. Neufeld added that the RM’s animal control officer has never had an issue with dogs on the property.

Councillor Gord Meneer made a motion, which was approved by council, for Polinski to be authorized up to 15 adult dogs on the property with the condition a fence be constructed around the area in which Polinski allows the dogs exercise, outside of the kennels, under his supervision.

Had council denied the application, Polinski would have only been allowed three adult dogs on his property.

Earlier this year the municipality placed strict conditions on another dog kennel application from a property owner near Mitchell. In that case, Johann Thiessen (who also applied for 15 dogs) was allowed four dogs, restricted to a single breed, and was told his approval would be revoked if the property was ever sold.

Lahaie told The Carillon following the meeting it was the municipality’s understanding that Thiessen had abandoned plans for the kennel operation after being unable to make a business case with the reduced number of dogs.