Letters to the Editor

Dear editor, To the residents of Spring Green, How many research puppy mill kennels would you like to exist in Spring Green? Right, the Village of Spring Green already voted in a ballot initiative on April 7, 2020, passing an ordinance banning the breeding, raising, and selling of dogs and/or cats for experimentation only within the village.*  Other communities such as Richland Center, Little Chute, Kimberly, and Sun Prairie have also recently passed similar bans - and more municipalities are in the process of eliminating this cruelty from their towns and cities.  However, Spring Green already has one research puppy mill kennel on the corner of Highway 14 and Big Hollow Road thanks to Sauk County, and the fight is on for a second satellite research puppy mill kennel to exist on Pearl Road (within the village’s jurisdiction). On July 17, 2019, the Spring Green Village Plan Commission denied a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for a satellite kennel (already operating without permit anyway) in a residential garage on Pearl Road.  On August 21, 2019, the kennel owners filed an appeal to this decision.  On October 8, 2019, the Spring Green Village Board of Zoning Appeals again denied the kennel owners the ability to operate a kennel at that location as a research puppy mill kennel does not conform to the purpose and intent of the village and extraterritorial land use plans.  The kennel owners then sued the village, and one judge ruled in their favor simply because the existing ordinance language about kennels does not define the word “kennel” - leaving any type of kennel imaginable allowable in the Spring Green Extraterritorial Zone. If the village rolls over on this fight because one judge in Sauk County ruled against the village, the residents of Spring Green will be strapped with paying all legal fees incurred by the kennel owners, and the village will have to grant the CUP.  But worse than that, it will be next to impossible to deny the next research puppy mill CUP… and the next…  Again, how many research puppy mill kennels would you like to exist in Spring Green?  It is a very lucrative business. In the best interest of the village and its extraterritorial zone, Spring Green must consider an appeal to the judge’s decision in this lawsuit.  A good attorney will see upon reviewing the meeting minutes and documents presented at the February 18, 2004, meeting of the Spring Green Plan commission and Joint Extraterritorial Zoning Committee (when “Commercial kennels, dog boarding, training and grooming facilities” was added as a conditional use under Section 3.09A in the ARN Extraterritorial New Agricultural Residential District), it is clear to me that the intention of this language was to allow kennels involving pets - not dogs for experimentation.  In fact, one can read the word “pet(s)” more than 13 times in the minutes and attached documents presented at both the February 18, 2004, meeting as well as the March 17, 2004, meeting of the Plan Commission and Joint Extraterritorial Zoning Committee (JEZC) that led to the added language. I believe that the intention of the new language was to allow a business that would service this community for their pet needs.  Any conditional use application that goes before village officials states that for review and approval the “conditional use conforms to the purpose and intent of the Village and extraterritorial land use plans.”  The kennel (already in operation when application was received) does not conform to the purpose and intent of the village and extraterritorial land use plans.  Therefore, the village must consider an appeal. Otherwise… if one were wanting to open a lucrative research puppy mill, or just a kennel that will supply research puppy mills, Spring Green is the place to do it.  Research puppy mills could be to Spring Green like waterparks are to the Dells. Please talk to Spring Green officials about an appeal. Thank you. Barb Ouimet Spring Green *Editor’s note: The ordinance amendment reads “Chapter 278-4 Nuisances, amended to add as a result of Referendum Election held on 04/07/2020: F. Research Dogs/Cats. (a) Any place or premises where cats or dogs are possessed for the purpose of taking or sending the cat or dog outside the village to be used for any research or experimentation OR (b) any place or premises where cats or dogs are used for the purpose of research or experimentation involving more than momentary or slight pain or distress to the animal. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to limit the ability of residents to enroll pet dogs/cats in clinical trials that may provide benefit to the animal.”