{"id":147768,"date":"2026-03-25T07:30:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/147768\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T07:30:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:30:26","slug":"mills-halts-kennel-ordinance-at-second-reading-amid-showing-for-business-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/147768\/","title":{"rendered":"Mills halts kennel ordinance at second reading amid showing for business owner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MILLS, Wyo. \u2014 Mills City Council has shelved <a href=\"https:\/\/oilcity.news\/community\/2026\/03\/11\/mills-sets-requirements-for-kennels-in-city-limits\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a proposed ordinance<\/a> affecting kennels and catteries on second reading.\u00a0Mills City Attorney Pat Holscher told the council and Mayor Leah Juarez at the start of Tuesday\u2019s exceptionally well-attended meeting that staff now considered the proposal \u201cexcessively narrow\u201d given the city\u2019s broader intent. <\/p>\n<p>The ordinance that passed first reading March 10 added three requirements to the existing regulations. One was for fencing to prevent escape and block vision.  The other two mandated \u201csufficient minimum efforts\u201d to reduce odors and noise, including abiding by residential noise curfews in a commercial zone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Juarez opened public comment with a reminder to focus on the ordinance and not the civil matter between two private parties \u2014 one a kennel owner and one related to a councilmember \u2014\u00a0that had been the topic of online discussion and prompted the public showing on the business owner\u2019s behalf.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs written these regulations could make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to continue operating in a way that sustains both the business and the rescue,\u201d said Lindsay Royce, owner of Fur Pet\u2019s Sake, the dog daycare and boarding facility at the center of the complaint.<\/p>\n<p>Royce said the facility had saved over 500 dogs from euthanasia since setting up shop in Mills four years ago.\u00a0Others spoke on her behalf and agreed that some of the proposals, like blocking vision through the fence, made no sense at all.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI respectfully ask that any ordinance be carefully evaluated to ensure it applies equally to all, and is not shaped in a way that is unintentionally targeting a single property or business,\u201d Royce said. <\/p>\n<p>Ryan Perry, who said he was former resident of Mills, voiced his general skepticism regarding the timing of the ordinance with the civil complaint. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis proposal risks punishing responsible community members and sets a troubling precedent that influence can drive policy,\u201d Perry said. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After the meeting, Juarez told Oil City News she\u2019d had discussions shortly after taking office with another kennel owner regarding the general need for regulations on boarders, citing cases of abuse and neglect.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She said the proposed ordinance was an attempt to address the issue, but it would be taken up again as licensing requirements for a kennel or cattery boarding business permit.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILLS, Wyo. \u2014 Mills City Council has shelved a proposed ordinance affecting kennels and catteries on second reading.\u00a0Mills&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-147768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}