Kennebunk kennel controversy: Neighbors 'beg' board to address excessive barking

KENNEBUNK, Maine — Site Plan Review Board member Al Kolff turned to Chair Gary Dugas and said, “We’re between a rock and a hard place.”

Kolff made the remark during the board’s three-hour public hearing about the Red Barn Inn, a dog kennel on Alfred Road whose owner is applying to the town to make some changes and is facing complaints from neighbors about persistent loud barking at the business.

Kolff may have been referring to himself and his board colleagues, but his remark also could have been applied to the opposing sides of the kennel controversy.

The hearing included so many details, opinions and factors that need consideration that the board voted unanimously to continue it until their April 18 meeting.

Audra Simpson, the owner of the Red Barn Inn, bought the kennel as-is a year ago and is now trying to make some changes to address the barking complaints and lock down the parameters of a business that has expanded considerably since it first opened in 2009.

Specifically, Simpson would like to set a limit of 85 dogs at her kennel per day, up from the 15 allowed under the site plan agreement approved for the kennel upon its opening in 2009. Simpson is also proposing acoustic fencing at her property and is seeking to comply with the town’s buffer requirements.

“I’m just trying to make this work for all of us,” Simpson told the board. “I just want what I purchased to be maintained.”

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Kennebunk neighbors plead with board to 'protect our sanity'

A few of the kennel’s neighbors also spoke during the public hearing, sharing stories of how the alleged persistent noise levels of scores of barking dogs have affected aspects of their quality of life, including their ability to enjoy peace and quiet.

The noise levels spiked only in recent years, they noted, as different owners of the kennel expanded its operations.

One resident told the board that a Realtor had visited his home, listened to the barking dogs, and figured that the collective noise would decrease his property value by about 20 percent. Another resident said she works from home and her colleagues can hear the dogs barking during video-conference meetings, a situation she said makes her concerned with how she is viewed professionally.

“I beg you, please,” abutter Phil Pitcock implored the board. “Protect our ability to enjoy our homes. Protect our homes’ values. Protect our sleep. Protect our sanity.”

In addition to the noise levels, neighbors also told the board they were frustrated because they felt town officials have not responded adequately to their noise complaints. Some neighbors took issue with the unpermitted developments at the business in recent years, from the increase of dogs at the site to the larger footprint of the overall operation.

Two neighbors, Scott Ellis and Jeff McCorkle, of the Westwoods Homeowners Association, both delivered presentations, in which they stated their arguments and provided data collected from Google Earth, other kennels in the region, and other sources.

Ellis said he hoped the board would understand the neighbors’ situation and would “choose a course of action that returns peace” to the area.

“It has been said that Kennebunk is a dog-friendly community,” Ellis said. “We are also a people-friendly community. There is a solution where both can coexist if the Red Barn Inn wishes to be a good neighbor.”

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Red Barn Inn clients defend 'only kennel in the community'

During the hearing, a few of the Red Barn Inn’s clients spoke in support of Simpson and her staff, noting their professionalism and the care that they show their dogs, and relating how much their pets look forward to going to the kennel each day.

Joe Rafferty, of Kennebunk, for example, said he and his wife bring their dog, Howard, to the kennel. He said he could sympathize with both sides of the issue but added that he learned there were between 1,500 and 2,000 registered dogs in Kennebunk.

“The Red Barn is the only kennel in the community,” he told the board. “It is certainly a needed business ... I hope you consider the dog owners.”

Rafferty also pushed back against the argument that all dogs at the kennel should be kept indoors.

“I think it’s unrealistic to expect to keep a dog indoors all day long,” he said. “I wouldn’t be a customer at Red Barn if they did that to my dog. Dogs need to be out.”

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Can the board address noise issues?

Attorney Kristen Collins, who represents Simpson, argued to board members that addressing noise issues is not among their responsibilities.

Town Attorney Benjamin McCall said it was “accurate to say” that the board is not required or empowered to look at noise issues under the site plan review process outlined in Kennebunk’s zoning ordinance. The town’s noise ordinance, he added, is a “standalone” one enforced by either the local code enforcement office or the Police Department.

McCall addressed the neighbors’ assertion that the board could address noise through the issue of buffering, which is a standard among its charges. He added, however, that the zoning ordinance suggests buffering is a “visual” matter without a standard definition.

“That’s another side of the coin that you’d have to grapple with,” McCall said.

McCall said the board should focus more on the current scope of its authority and less on what the town’s staff review board did back in 2009 when it approved the kennel’s site plan agreement.

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Neighbor: No one wants to 'shut down' kennel

In an email on March 27, Ellis reiterated a point made by many neighbors who spoke during the recent public hearing and in previous settings.

“None of the neighbors want to shut down the Red Barn Inn,” he said. “We simply want the board to include conditions of approval that can objectively and verifiably reduce the decibels of barking.”

Ellis added that he and others want to see those decibel levels lower to below the town’s official standard, “to achieve ambient noise levels again for neighbors of the kennel.”

Simpson told the board that she could not reduce her number of dogs per day to 15.

“That would shut the business down,” she said. “That’s not the business I bought.”

The new fencing that Simpson is seeking to install at her property is comprised of acoustical, sound-proofing material, but some neighbors expressed a need, based on a professional study they commissioned, to make sure the height and angle of the panels be right to try to reduce the sounds of barking.

The hearing turned testy at times. At one point, one of the neighbors snapped at someone in the audience who had interrupted him.

“I’m talking!” the neighbor said. “Why are you talking right now? Get out of here, man!”

During the hearing, both Simpson and the neighbors had one issue in common: each alleged harassment from the other side and called for it to stop.

Laura McCorkle, who lives on nearby Westwoods Road, said people have been driving past her home, honking their car horns, and shouting, “Long live the Red Barn Inn!” and “Save the Red Barn Inn!” She noted that she has children who play in the area.

“This behavior is unsafe,” she said. “Please stop.”

Simpson asserted that she and her staff also have been harassed.

“We get calls quite often,” she said. “We get sworn at. We get told to shut the dogs up, over and over again.”

During her remarks, McCorkle also said she and her neighbors never should have been put into the position they are in. She said they should not have to spend their time and resources to deal with the noise issue when there is a “legal document from 2009 that was put into place to protect against this exact scenario.”

“We are not the enemy,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk kennel fight: Neighbors want excessive barking to stop