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As many of you know, we purchased a 25-acre property/house in Gaithersburg (7235 Damascus Road) on December 5th, 2014. Due to the County’s extremely strict regulations on operating a small business, especially a home-based one, and in our case, a dog care operation featuring outdoor access (virtually non-existent in Montgomery County), we had been looking for several years for the needle in the haystack that would meet these strict standards and would enable us to realize our dreams legally in the eyes of the county. To start with, the county requires a large, multi-acre property (at least 8 acres to do what we do) that is zoned properly in order to care for dogs outdoors. That is just the tip of the iceberg, though, in terms of having the right property. After tons of searching, we finally found 7235 Damascus Road and, prior to making an offer on the property, immediately began our due diligence in determining whether it would meet the requirements of the county.
At the suggestion of an employee at the Department of Permitting Services, who had pointed out that we need to obtain a “Conditional Use Permit”, we contacted a Land Use Attorney to help us navigate this process. The first order of business was for our attorney and me to meet with a few members of the County Park and Planning Department in order to simply determine if we could to obtain this Conditional Use Permit at this particular property on Damascus Road. The meeting lasted a couple hours, and many unfamiliar and puzzling zoning topics were discussed like, allowed use, Transfer of Development Rights (TDR’s), Impervious Surface Area, Storm Water Management, Traffic Impact Study, various easements, historic preservation, MC master planning, etc. There was very little discussion on actual dog care.
But, we finally got to the answer to the question, “will we be able to get a permit on this house?” The answer was a clear, unambiguous, “Maybe, probably. It ultimately depends on the rulings of two separate hearings on your case.” “Probably” was way less than the definitive answer we were hoping would guide us on whether or not to make the biggest purchase and lifestyle change of our lifetimes.
Needless to say, we took a giant leap of faith in purchasing the farm without knowing if we would be successful in obtaining the proper permitting. It was not a possibility for us to rent the property, or to make the purchase contingent on obtaining permitting (believe me, we tried!), so after a ton of string-pulling for financing (purchasing agricultural property is not easy), we “bought the farm” and began the permitting process.
In order to properly do the rest of the story justice, it would likely take hundreds of pages to convey how difficult the ensuing process was (and still is), since the very matter that would need to be communicated is the high level of scrutiny with which the county has approached our application(s) to operate a business on our new farm. And, the vast majority of the incomprehensible web of regulations that has been applied to our case has been irrelevant or not applicable and almost always petty (e.g., light fixture descriptions for all outdoor lights, square footage of our stable that is not part of the dog care operation, hard-wired exit signs, widening of bathroom doorway, etc.). Also, it is important to reiterate that 95% of these regulations & concerns of the county have nothing to do with dogs. I simply don’t have the time or inclination to detail all of hurdles that we’ve had to jump over, and I’m positive that there is not a single person in this world that would enjoy reading it J. So, here is the cliff notes version.
The short version is that we’ve had to deal with more than forty different members of the Montgomery County Government, one by one, in three different departments (Park & Planning, Zoning, and Permitting Services) over the past year. All of the individuals that we’ve dealt with have applied their own highly specialized magnifying glass to a different line of regulation to which they were assigned to enforce. Some of these county employees were very nice and apologetic for what they see as an unjust process, and some were downright pompous, rude, uncooperative, and callous to our predicament. Many seemed unable (or didn’t care) to see the big picture, which was and still is that we simply want to take care of dogs on a very well-suited farm.
Beyond the broader zoning issues, some other examples of specific requirements/obstacles are: environmental impact analysis, acoustical analysis, traffic analysis, impervious surface requirements, lighting maps with specs on all lighting fixtures, circulation, inherent and non-inherent adverse impacts (huh?), “screening” of our use through extensive landscaping (that would have cost a fortune—we were ultimately able to use an alternative means of compliance for screening), ADA access (wheel-chair access), fire-code compliance, fire-truck access plan and modifications, proper driveway width, and detailed plans for building, electrical, architectural, mechanical, building, sediment control, well & septic, etc..
Each one of these issues took days or weeks to address. For example, it took the better part of a week for them to agree on a method of ensuring that “accessory sales” (like grooming or sales of dog collars or something) would not represent over 20% of our total sales (the method needed to be easily enforceable, too). And it took three weeks of meetings and calls with DPS, involving our two lawyers, two of our engineers, our architect, fire-code consultant, and permit expeditor to get the county to reconsider their $50,000+ requirement to widen, pave, and modify our very long driveway so that it would be convenient for a fire truck to turn around in the very remote chance of a future fire in one of our CONCRETE outbuildings. The building is very easily accessible via our existing driveway, but that didn’t seem to matter to them (until we forced the issue).
Notice that very little of this has anything to do with dogs. Dog safety and well-being are NOT a consideration to the County.
The challenges go on and on, but these realities may give you a better idea:
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It has been over a year now since we first met with Park & Planning, and while we have gone through all the permitting for zoning, we are still uncertain about how long it will take to get through the DPS reviews and inspections.
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Lest someone think that it is possible for a business owner to go through this process by him/herself, it has been required of us to assemble a team of attorneys and certified engineers and architects (again, we were not building anything). And, while it was not required of us, we’ve also found it necessary to use a couple different, highly specialized MC code/permitting consultants in guiding us through the maze of Montgomery County regulation.
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I show 78 emails from our architect (and we aren’t building anything!), 81 emails from our engineers, and 257 emails from our attorneys (yes, plural). I did not keep a count of the meetings and many phone/conference calls.
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Costs that are directly due to the permitting process are now above $140,000 (and counting). This does not include many costs associated with the move to the new farm. Total costs of the permitting process are projected to be $180,000. We at one time naively estimated that the permitting process would cost us $7,000 to $10,000.
I don’t want anyone to misunderstand my intention. I am not sharing this information for sympathy, nor am I using this writing exercise to vent (although regular venting has certainly been much needed therapy). We are close to getting achieving our goal, and we are excited. I am sharing this information for a few reasons:
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Our customers mean a lot to us. By entrusting us with your pups, you’ve allowed us to realize our dream profession. You’ve been patient with our continuous move-date-changes, and we don’t want you to think we’ve been lackadaisical, or even capricious in our ever-fluid status with the move to the new farm.
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This permitting process, along with chores/requirements at the new property (some of which are permit-related) has taken up a lot of our time, and I wanted you to know the reason in case some of you haven’t seen or heard much of me (and Kelly too) in the afternoons/evenings lately.
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I’d like as many Montgomery County residents as I can reach to know how absolutely onerous it is for a small business, especially a home-based one, to exist in Montgomery County with these unreasonable regulations. The “expeditor” that we hired to help navigate this application and paper-trail process worked for the Department of Permitting Services for years, and so she has an intimate knowledge of the process. She said that in her years there, she saw a great number of small family operations forced out of business due to the regulations. Many simply could not afford to go through the process that was required of them, so they either had to shut down their business or move to another county or state. Maybe if enough people become aware, common sense can play a bigger role in the substance and application of our county regulations.
If anyone would like to read the 50-PAGE report and decision from the Hearing Examiner after our zoning hearing, it will give you an idea of the level of scrutiny that is involved in each of the processes that we have gone through. Keep in mind that the information in that report is the culmination of only the second of three phases in our process (1st was Park and Planning, 2nd was Zoning, and 3rd is Permitting Services, which we are still trying to get through). You can find it here: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OZAH/Resources/Files/pdf/2015/CU%2015-03%20Dog’s%20Day%20Pet%20Care(Robeson)%20v%2014.pdf
If you would like to read the 40-page transcript of the actual zoning hearing, you can find it at the following link. The transcript is actually fairly interesting for a few reasons. First, it highlights how crazy the process is. Second, the hearing starts off VERY rocky, with the Hearing Examiner basically stating that she thinks there is a good chance that she will deny us due to her having insufficient information from Park & Planning. Third, it brings to light one of the problems that we’ve faced throughout the process, which is that the different departments within the county, with whom we’ve been dealing, have a significant amount of disagreements/in-fighting. I believe that we experienced more challenges because of the in-fighting. Lastly, in reading the transcript, you should be able to tell that I was pretty nervous, especially after she hinted at the very real possibility of a denial. It became very clear to me after reading the transcript exactly which words I use as a verbal crutch J. https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OZAH/Resources/Files/pdf/2015/DP-9746_OZAH-CU-15-03%20MUS.pdf
If you are still reading this, I am both very impressed by your stamina, and very thankful for your interest. In the scheme of things, these difficulties that we have been facing with the permitting, as excessive as they are, might fall under the category of “first-world problems”. We are fortunate to be in the position we are in, with many great clients and a ton of awesome dogs. We are very close to resolving everything with the county, and we’re really looking forward to the next chapter at the new location. We hope you and your pups will follow us there!
Matt Brown
