SALUDA – The City of Saluda will allow kennels as a permitted use, but only in the small zoning district of C3.

The Saluda Board of Commissioners met Monday, Oct. 9 and approved the permitted use by a 3-1 vote, with commissioner Carolyn Ashburn against. Ashburn motioned to allow kennels in C1, C2 and C3 as a conditional use, with that vote being tied at 2-2 and Mayor Fred Baisden breaking the tie against her motion.

The city held a public hearing to allow kennels as a permitted use last month after Katrina Thissen, who owns Gentle Hands Grooming, requested to open a kennel to board animals. Thissen said last month she wanted to have a small number of dogs, mostly kept indoors, mainly for people who are hiking or kayaking in Saluda, as well as for people to house their dogs overnight.

The state requires that municipalities allow kennels in their zoning in at least one zoning district. Saluda previously did not allow kennels anywhere in its zoning.

The Saluda Planning Board approved recommending that the board of commissioners allow kennels in the C3 district only, which is a property across the interstate at the corner of Green River and Holbert Cove Roads.

Thissen’s Gentle Hands Grooming is located at 156 W. Highway 176, which is in the C2 zoning district.

Ashburn said she knows where the C3 district is located and it’s not viable.

“I personally feel like there is a need for some sort of kennel in our town,” Ashburn said. “I’d like to see it happen in some form.”

City manager Jonathan Cannon said if commissioners chose making kennels a conditional use, each application would go to the planning board and neighbors would be notified. The application and planning board recommendation would then go to the board of commissioners for a public hearing and approval. Conditions could be placed on each application, as long as they were reasonable conditions, such as planting a screen of trees around the property if a kennel were to be proposed near residential properties.

Cannon also said the city could restrict the size of the kennel.

Baisden said the state restricts how many employees have to be employed depending on how many animals are in the kennel. He said the state requires one employee for every 10 animals in a kennel.

Commissioner Stan Walker said he was just trying to determine whether Saluda needs a kennel or not.

Cannon said commissioners need to keep in mind that kennels are a use allowed by the state, so Saluda has to permit them somewhere.

City attorney Jana Berg said the good thing about requiring a conditional use permit is that locating in one place may be fine and in another place, not. She said the city could say the dogs aren’t allowed outside at night, for instance, or require a buffer, or put conditions on the size and how waste management is handled.

“I’ve found in other towns that they work better in rural areas with conditions,” said Berg.

Ashburn’s motion to allow kennels in all commercial districts except the historic downtown district was approved by Ashburn and Walker, and voted against by commissioners Leon Morgan and Mark Oxtoby. Baisden said he voted against Ashburn’s motion because he wanted to go with the planning board’s recommendation.