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Casey
Member PageMember Page Apr 04, 2007 at 18:19
Latest on McDuffee Puppymill Vote for this post

The Board will be making it's final decision on this tomorrow...

From the MC Record

County to reissue CUP for dog breeding kennel

Wednesday April 04, 2007

The Morrison County Board of Commissioners are prepared to approve the conditional use permit (CUP) for Gary McDuffee to operate a commercial dog breeding facility in Belle Prairie Township.
The board recessed its meeting Tuesday morning to await the county staff's "findings of facts" that will be supplied when the board reconvenes Thursday at 9 a.m.
However, the board is planning on issuing the CUP with the following 14 conditions to be attached:
•There must be "adequate supervision and/or monitoring of the site."
•All feces must be double-bagged and transported to the county's landfill for disposal.
•All wash water from the kennel must go through the onsite septic system.
•The county staff will inspect McDuffee's facility on a yearly basis to assure that all conditions are being satisfied. The inspection will be conducted by county staff only and 24 hours notice will be given to McDuffee.
•McDuffee is required to set aside 1/6 of the building areas as an exercise area for adult dogs.
•The original adult breeding dog maximum of 600 dogs will be dropped to 500, as warranted by the decrease in building area by 1/6.
•Deceased animals must be removed by a rendering service or brought to an appropriate cremation service offsite of the facility.
•"Adult dogs" will be defined as any dog over four-months of age.
•Should McDuffee choose to supply an outdoor exercise area for the dogs, it shall be placed on the west side of the facility.
•No dogs or puppies shall be debarked, nor shall shock collars be allowed to control their barking.
•McDuffee must remain in compliane with all federal, state, county and local statutes. Any violation of such condition , as adjudicated by a court of appropriate jurisdiction, should be brought to the attention of the board and the matter set on for hearing and allow McDuffee to be heard on the issue of revocation of his CUP.
•The CUP is non-transferable without prior county board approval.
•A barrier of conifer trees will run along the north and east sides of the facility to provide aesthetic improvement.
•McDuffee must maintain his USDA license.
The last two conditions were included on the previous CUP issuance, except that the barrier was suggested to be a wooden fence. The third condition on the previous CUP was that McDuffee debark all adult breeding dogs allowed outdoors, which McDuffee no longer plans to do.


MC Record

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Casey
Member PageMember Page Apr 04, 2007 at 18:47
Article from St Cloud Times Vote for this post Reply to this Message

Morrison County leaders tie limits to permit for dog-breeding facility

By David Unze dunze@stcloudtimes.com
Published: April 04. 2007 12:30AM
LITTLE FALLS —
Barring any last-minute surprises, Morrison County commissioners will approve a controversial permit Thursday allowing a 500-dog breeding operation in Belle Prairie Township.

Commissioners met for about three hours Tuesday to outline more than a dozen conditions they plan to put on Gary McDuffee’s permit. The new permit will reduce by 100 the number of adult dogs for breeding that McDuffee can have at his kennel.

Commissioners previously approved a permit to allow McDuffee to have up to 600 breeding dogs at his kennel. Commissioners reduced that number at Tuesday’s meeting after requiring McDuffee to set aside one-sixth of his indoor kennel space as space for the dogs to be exercised. Commissioners then decided to reduce McDuffee’s allowable breeding stock by one-sixth.

The county board was forced by the state Court of Appeals to revisit McDuffee’s permit after two neighbors and the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies appealed the board’s first decision. Commissioners took no vote Tuesday on the conditional-use permit and recessed until Thursday, when they are expected to approve the permit.

The number of dogs McDuffee has asked to breed and questions about conditions at kennels he previously ran with his former wife drew opposition from around the world, much of it fueled by Internet networking and online petitions.

“We’ve all caught a lot of hell on this thing, both ways,” board chairman Don Meyer said during Tuesday’s hearing.
He and commissioners Tom Wenzel and Jeff Schilling wanted even fewer dogs at McDuffee’s kennel, but Schilling said 500 was a compromise that was most likely to withstand legal challenges. McDuffee declined to comment at the meeting.

“It may be too late for this one, but we ought to take a look at our ordinance,” Schilling said.

The county has a moratorium on new breeding facilities and is in the process of rewriting the ordinances that govern how many dogs a breeder can have at one kennel. Commissioners hope to have new ordinances in place by July, County Administrator Tim Houle said.

Among the conditions that commissioners voted to add to the new permit are requiring McDuffee to double-bag feces and remove it to the Morrison County Landfill.

He also must plant a buffer of trees along portions of his property to reduce noise, must limit the location and hours of outdoor exercise for the dogs, must not debark the dogs or use shock collars to control noise, must cremate or use a rendering service for any deceased dogs and must provide adequate monitoring of the kennel site to respond to an emergency such as a fire or a power outage.

He also must treat the water used to wash his animals through an on-site septic system, allow county staff to annually inspect his kennel for compliance with the land-use permit, maintain his USDA license and not transfer the conditional-use permit to anyone else.

The disposal of feces and deceased dogs, the treatment of the wash water and McDuffee’s stated intent to eliminate noise by keeping the dogs indoors at all times alleviated concerns commissioners had about possible negative environmental effects.

A lawsuit challenging the board’s earlier decision to not require an environmental assessment worksheet is pending in Morrison County District Court.

The changes McDuffee has agreed to and the conditions commissioners put on his permit likely will be presented to the judge in that case as a reason commissioners don’t need to order the environmental assessment.
No hearing date has been set for that case.

SC Times

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The Wigglebutts
Apr 04, 2007 at 19:50
Re: Latest on McDuffee Puppymill Vote for this post Reply to this Message

Well...as far as I'm concerned they should have rescinded the permit and shut him down. We don't need another breeding facility in this counrty...the shelters, humane societies, and rescue groups can vouch for that.
But they should have made the number of dogs allowed there less than 500 and is that adult and puppies, or just adult dogs?
They should be inspecting at miminum of once a month.....one unexpected.

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The Wigglebutts
Apr 04, 2007 at 19:57
Star Tribune Vote for this post Reply to this Message

Morrison County officials say they will put restrictions on the operation, but they expect more lawsuits by neighbors.
By Warren Wolfe, Star Tribune
Last update: April 04, 2007

Morrison County, in central Minnesota, is poised to approve a new dog-breeding kennel near Little Falls after a lawsuit forced county officials to reconsider earlier approval, County Administrator Tim Houle said Tuesday.
The County Board instructed Houle and his staff to prepare a conditional-use permit for Wagon Tails Kennel, which will probably be approved by commissioners Thursday.

However, kennel owner Gary McDuffee, 52, a Little Falls special education teacher, will be instructed to reduce the maximum number of breeding dogs from 600 to 500, and reserve one-sixth of the 6,400-square-foot kennel as an indoor exercise area, Houle said.

"Even with these restrictions, I won't be surprised if we get sued again," he said.

Minneapolis attorney Marshall Tanick said that the kennel's neighbors he represents "may pursue more legal action. We still have concerns about the noise, traffic, environmental impact and impact on property values."

Debarking plan

Morrison County approved a conditional-use permit in January 2006. But it was sued by neighbors and the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies for not completing an environmental impact assessment and not considering whether McDuffee's plan to debark his dogs through a surgical procedure was cruel and inhumane.

Many were concerned that McDuffee would build a "puppy mill," with unsafe, unsanitary and noisy conditions.

Two months ago the Minnesota Court of Appeals ordered the County Board to reconsider the permit based on the debarking issue. Neighbors are still suing the county over the environmental impact analysis, Houle said.

McDuffee told the county that he would not debark his dogs and, instead of spreading the dog manure on his 40-acre site, he would double bag it and take it to a county landfill, which captures and treats any water that leeches out.

After the kennel was approved a year ago, McDuffee built a barn and had 200 to 300 cocker spaniels and Yorkshire terriers for breeding before the county asked him to not expand further until it dealt with the legal issues.

"If the board approves this on Thursday, then the kennel can go ahead and expand," Houle said. "With the added safety measures for handling the manure, I think we've dealt with any concerns about an impact on the environment."


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Casey
Member PageMember Page Apr 05, 2007 at 16:59
McDuffee has his 500 dog Puppymill Vote for this post Reply to this Message

A sad day for all who worked so hard to stop this....

Morrison board OKs 500-dog kennel permit
By David Unze dunze@stcloudtimes.com
Published: April 05. 2007 12:30AM

LITTLE FALLS — Morrison County commissioners today approved a permit for a dog-breeding operation in Belle Prairie Township that could have as many 500 adult breeding dogs.
Commissioners unanimously approved the permit for Gary McDuffee and left in place the 13 conditions they discussed at a three-hour meeting Tuesday. The permit reduces by 100 the number of adult breeding dogs McDuffee is allowed to have compared to the terms of a previous permit.
The county board changed the terms of his permit after the state Court of Appeals ordered it to revisit the issue, saying commissioners previously had not taken a thorough look at all the factors involved in the proposed breeding operation. The terms of the new permit require McDuffee to set aside one-sixth of his indoor space as an exercise area for the dogs. Commissioners reduced the limit on his breeding stock by one-sixth.
McDuffee must comply with numerous other conditions to comply with the permit.
He must plant a buffer of trees along portions of his property to reduce noise, limit the location and hours of outdoor exercise for the dogs, must not debark the dogs or use shock collars to control noise, must cremate or use a rendering service for any deceased dogs and must provide adequate monitoring of the kennel site to respond to an emergency such as a fire or a power outage.
He also must treat the water used to wash his animals through an on-site septic system, allow county staff to annually inspect his kennel for compliance with the land-use permit, maintain his USDA license and not transfer the conditional-use permit to anyone else.

SC Times

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