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Swansea planning board approves dog daycare at Route 12, conditions state-licensing check
Summary
The Swansea Planning Board approved a site plan to convert an existing building on Route 12 into a dog daycare and kennel, conditioning approval on the applicant confirming any required state licenses; the board waived several checklist items because this is a reuse of an existing site.
The Swansea Planning Board approved a site plan on March 12 for a dog daycare and kennel in the business district (tax map 106 lot 53), requiring the applicant to check with the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture about any licenses and report back to the board. The approval followed a public hearing and a finding that several missing checklist items could be treated as waivers because the proposal reuses an existing building.
The applicant, identified in the record only as the site presenter, described prior experience operating a 6,000-square-foot facility in Clovis, New Mexico, and said she plans a modest operation in Swansea. "My max 15 20 dogs and that's probably during peak holiday season," she said, adding she prefers individualized play rather than large group play. Board members asked how she would limit barking and dispose of dog waste; the applicant said she uses a staging approach to group dogs (which she described informally as "Tetris"), has indoor spaces to separate dogs when needed, will operate within local noise-ordinance hours and has a contracted waste-removal service.
Board and staff review of the application focused on items not included on the submittal checklist — for an existing site the board treated many items as waivers. Absent items listed by staff included a landscape plan, 200-foot physical-features mapping, five-foot topographic contours, septic-system certification, well-radius mapping, Cheshire County soil survey data and architectural plans. Planning staff and members agreed those omissions were acceptable for a reuse application and voted to grant waivers.
Board members also asked whether the state statute on keepers of dogs (RSA 466) applies to a commercial kennel or daycare. The applicant said she did not intend to breed or "keep" dogs in the sense the board described; members advised the applicant to contact the Department of Agriculture to confirm any licensing requirements. The board made that point a condition of the site-plan approval.
On other operational points, staff noted parking shown on the plan — four spaces by the house plus five on the Route 12 side — and a mistaken traffic-survey page included from a prior submittal that the board disregarded. Conservation comments raised the location of fencing and concerns about disposal near a brook; the applicant said the fenced area will sit largely under an existing roofline and explained her waste-disposal arrangements.
Richard Lane moved to approve the site plan with the condition that the applicant confirm any required state licenses; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board closed the public hearing after hearing no public commenters. The applicant was congratulated and the board asked her to return with any state licensing updates.
Next steps: the applicant will contact state authorities about licensing and report back to planning staff as required. The planning board recorded the approval and will monitor compliance with the stated condition.
