Patchogue trustees set public hearing on removing kennels from D1 zone after extended public comment

The Village Board of Trustees on March 10 ratified a prior approval to set a public hearing to repeal kennels as a permitted use in the D1 Business District and heard more than an hour of public comment on the issue.

The action ratified a February 26, 2025 polling of the board to set a public hearing on a proposed local law to amend section 4-35-20(a) of the village code. The board voted to ratify the prior approval by voice vote (motion details and recorded tallies were not provided in the public transcript).

The proposal would remove “kennels” from uses allowed in the D1 district, the trustees’ staff said. The code defines kennel under section 4-35-1 as “any establishment for the raising, training, boarding, or selling of dogs and cats or other small animals for hire or profit where more than three dogs or cats or other small animals are harbored or kept on a regular basis,” language trustees and staff repeatedly cited during the discussion.

Meredith Vesta, identified herself as “the president of the Wazniak People,” said her organization is a nonprofit that does not board, sell or train animals for profit and was advised by planning staff it did not meet the village’s kennel definition. “We were explicitly told we were not considered a kennel by the village’s own definition,” Vesta said. She urged the board to reconsider blanket removal of kennels from D1 and to consider instead a special-permit approach that would allow case-by-case review.

The village attorney told the board the D1 change would be a zoning use amendment and would not itself decide any pending permit application. The attorney noted that uses such as groomers, trainers or veterinary clinics generally fall under other retail or professional categories and, as defined, would not necessarily be captured by the kennel definition used in the draft local law.

Trustee Kevin Weeks said the village’s land-use patterns have changed since parts of the code were written decades ago and that the lack of a buffer between business and residential parcels in the Waverly Avenue corridor contributed to the board’s interest in re-examining the provision. “We no longer have a buffer zone between the business district and the residential district,” Weeks said, describing why some trustees think kennel uses may not fit D1 anymore.

Neighbors and other residents raised concerns about specific properties, noise, liability and whether any change would apply to existing businesses. Suzette Campbell, who said the property in question is across the street from her home, asked whether staff or operators would be on site 24 hours and expressed safety concerns for children and traffic near the neighborhood.

Board members and the attorney repeatedly clarified that the proposed local law would apply to permitted uses in the D1 zoning district and that existing lawful businesses would remain as nonconforming uses if the code is changed. The attorney also noted that animals-shelter or similar uses are reviewed under separate special-permit criteria (cited in the transcript as section 4-35-66) and that any specific permit applications remain before the zoning board of appeals or planning board rather than the trustees.

The trustees moved the matter to public hearing; a date was set and the public will have the opportunity to speak when the hearing is held. Separate permit applications referenced by speakers remain pending before other boards and will be decided under those boards’ records.

Why it matters: The proposed change would remove an entire permitted use from the D1 Business District along the Waverly Avenue corridor, a move that could prevent future boarding- or breeding‑style kennel operations in those commercial blocks and would shift how certain animal-related businesses are reviewed in the village.