Dog under training. Photo By Metro Creative Service
SOUTHAMPTON—A dog training facility in Medford Township that has apparently notified Southampton Township of its intention to relocate its operations to the latter town has prompted the Southampton Township Committee to introduce an ordinance Nov. 25 to make such operations a permitted use in the municipality’s Highway Commercial (HC) Zone.
Those details were revealed by Township Administrator Brandon Umba when Deputy Mayor Elizabeth Rossell inquired about the length of the lease the company has retained.
“I do not know the length of the lease, but they want to move completely from their facility in Medford, to our location, is what was said to us,” Umba replied. “And this type of use is something that is found in other towns within their Highway Commercial District.”
A draft copy of the ordinance posted on the Southampton website states that “some of the permitted uses” already in the HC District include “personal and professional establishments, such as offices for physicians, dentists, lawyers, planners, architects and landscape architects, engineers, musicians, artists, teachers, optometrists, photographers and other recognized professionals” and that “it was brought to the attention of the Township Administration that there may be other uses that would be appropriate for the HC Zone that are consistent with the purpose and existing permitted uses in the zone.”
One such use, the draft ordinance continues, is “dog training and enrichment facilities,” with language in the proposed law contending that an operation of this kind “shares many of the characteristics of the permitted personal and professional establishments,” including “personalized, professional services by trained specialists, conducted indoors by appointment only, with low customer turnover and limited traffic.”
“Neighboring towns, such as Medford, have one in their Highway Commercial District,” pointed out Umba, before informing the Southampton committee the decision to allow it rests with the governing body.
The proposed ordinance is officially titled, “An Ordinance Amending Section 12-3.6(B) of the Code of the Township of Southampton to Include Dog Training and Enrichment Facilities as Permitted Uses in the Highway Commercial Zone.”
Committeeman Bill Raftery asked, “Can you define ‘Enrichment?’”
“Enrichment care is individualized activities such as structured walks, scent work, agility and puzzle feeders,” replied Township Solicitor George Morris, with him adding they are essentially activities with one-on-one staff supervision.
Raftery, in maintaining he is “only teasing,” suggested adding a “parenthesis” to clarify “it is only applicable to canines.”
“My mind just drifted away on what that could entail,” he quipped.
Resident Evelyn “Evie” Doherty, however, questioned, “Is the reason for the ordinance because of somebody purchasing ground in the Highway Commercial Zone, that needs it for that use?”
“They are not purchasing,” Mayor Ronald Heston clarified. “They are going to lease the property.”
But Doherty pressed officials to confirm whether “the lease is tied to their being able to run that business there.”
“That is correct,” Heston answered.
Doherty, who previously served on the township Zoning Board for 12 years and the township Planning Board for three years, maintained “usually something goes before the Zoning Board for something like that, for a use variance.”
“I was just surprised to see that you are doing an ordinance for it,” she added.
Officials, during the public meeting, did not comment further on the proposed ordinance. A second reading and public hearing is scheduled for Dec. 16.
Umba later told this newspaper the company that made the request is Coastal Pines K9 & Central Bark, and the location of interest that they are looking at is 2127 Route 206.
Also appearing on the Southampton committee’s agenda was a resolution “authorizing the purchase of (an) ambulance through (the) Sourcewell Cooperative Purchasing Program.”
When the action item was up for a vote, Heston revealed a township ambulance had been “destroyed in an accident” and that the ambulance being purchased would replace it.
Umba, when later asked by this newspaper about the accident details, replied, “An Hampton Lakes Emergency Squad (HLES) ambulance was returning to station from a call and was involved in an accident that was no fault to the HLES staff, which totaled our ambulance. The accident occurred back in April. No injuries were reported for our staff.”
The new ambulance is being purchased from VCI Emergency Vehicle Specialist for $326,148.57, according to the resolution.
“And this is being purchased with insurance monies, and some of the equipment from the previous ambulance is being incorporated into the replacement,” Heston noted.
The Southampton committee also authorized submission of an application to the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT)’s Local Freight Impact Fund Grant Program in hopes of securing monies to repave Eayrestown Road from the township border with Lumberton Township (near Meadowyck Lane) to Hilliards Bridge Road.
One of the final acts of the Southampton governing body’s Nov. 25 session was to pay Kaleidoscape, Inc. $17,775 (by adding their invoice to the November Bill’s List) for landscaping a township-owned island on Saint Davids Place in the LeisureTowne retirement community, an island that had been previously stripped by a solar developer of its vegetation to make way for a massive switchgear station, which was ultimately removed following controversy.
“We just received notice from Environmental Resolutions, Inc. (ERI – the township’s special projects engineering firm) at 4:20 p.m. today that they authorized it to be paid,” noted Umba in asking for the payment of the bill to be added.