Grayson County planning panel approves special-use permit for Wilson's Black and Tans kennel with noise, expansion limits

The Grayson County Planning Commission voted to approve Special Use Permit application 20250205 for Wilson's Black and Tans, a commercial boarding and breeding kennel at 643 Shell Hollow Lane, with conditions including state-code compliance, annual records checks and a limit on expansions before a permit revision is required.

The staff presentation on the application identified the parcel as 4.125 acres in the Providence District (tax map 8-A-2C1) in a Rural Farm zoning district and said kennels are allowed there with a special-use permit. Planning staff's report said the kennel has operated since 2023 without prior county authorization and described the proposed commercial operations as boarding "five-plus non-owner dogs for a fee" and keeping intact females for breeding as allowed under the county's zoning ordinance sections 2-32 and 2-33.

The staff report, read aloud by planning staff (identified in the record as Miss Black, Planning Commission staff), cited neighbor complaints about noise and presented audible-decibel recordings submitted by nearby resident William Baldwin. Miss Black told the commission the recordings showed peaks in the high 80s to low 90s dB at times, recorded from roughly 600 feet from the kennel using an uncalibrated phone app. She recommended approval with four conditions: (1) full compliance with the cited state commercial-breeding provisions referenced in the staff report, (2) any expansion or modification…