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Rome ZBA approves use variance for Humane Society to rebuild on Lamphere Road
Summary
The Rome Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved a use variance May 7, 2025, allowing the Humane Society of Rome to demolish its 6,930 sq ft shelter at 6247 Lamphere Road and build a new 19,800 sq ft facility on merged adjoining parcels, citing new state requirements and the Society's regional animal-control role.
The Rome Zoning Board of Appeals on May 7, 2025 approved a use variance permitting the Humane Society of Rome to demolish its existing 6,930-square-foot shelter at 6247 Lamphere Road and construct a new, approximately 19,800-square-foot facility on merged adjoining tax parcels.
Plumlee Engineering representative Julian Clark told the board the Society has occupied the main parcel for more than 40 years and had acquired multiple adjoining parcels (one in February 2009 and another in 2025) to enable construction and temporary staging. Clark said the Society is licensed by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and that recently updated state requirements will make the existing facility noncompliant; “if the facility isn't upgraded to meet ag and market standards, they'll be forced to shut down,” he told the board during the presentation.
Lynn Rosen, president of the Humane Society of Rome, and shelter manager Robin Genovese Kaminski described operational changes the new building would enable: a community room for clinics and education, a small retail area to increase earned revenue, centralized cleaning and feeding layouts, enclosed climate‑controlled space, animal runs set at the rear of the facility (facing the highway), and a secure night‑drop for municipal dog-control officers. Rosen said the society will use an adjacent purchased parcel as a construction staging area so the existing operation can continue during construction.
Oneida County Department of Planning filed a communication recommending approval (dated April 17, 2025, signed James J. Genovese). The board voted unanimously to approve the use variance. Board members and staff noted the project will next require site-plan review by the Planning Board and standard building permits and inspections.
Board members emphasized mitigation measures already proposed by the applicant, including landscaping buffers, berms and siting the outdoor dog areas behind the new building farther from neighbors than the current layout. The Society said hours of public operations would remain limited (noted in the record as 11 a.m.–5 p.m.) and that the new facility is designed to improve animal welfare and turnover, not to increase overnight kennel count; current and proposed kennel counts were discussed as roughly 20 kennels on site, with intake/throughput projected to be more efficient.
