Longtime Cedar Rapids dog business leads to neighborhood dispute

CEDAR RAPIDS - Disputes between neighbors over barking dogs are hardly new, but one such dispute here has been unwittingly exacerbated by the city.

The issue pits Glenda Fillenworth, flood survivor and owner of a dog-boarding business in her home, against Brian and Christine Wagner, who moved into the rehabbed house next door, thinking they were helping bring the flood-hit neighborhood back to life but find they cannot abide the barking.

The city seems partly responsible because it permitted the business, Canine Corner & Cats Too, 1201 Eighth St. NW, to operate at the site for years in violation of the city zoning ordinance. Zoning law does not permit dog-boarding operations in areas zoned residential or office/service.

Vern Zakostelecky, a longtime planner in the Community Development Department, said the city didn't know of the problems. It knows now because of questions asked by the Wagners.

Fillenworth's 3,484-square-foot ranch house sits on three 50-foot-wide lots. She said it can board and provide day care for 30 to 40 dogs and a few cats, while also being home to her 10 Belgian Tervuren shepherds. She is vice president of Belgian Tervuren Rescue Inc.

Her operation is comparable in animal numbers to local shelters. Diane Webber, manager of Cedar Rapids Animal Care and Control, said the current animal shelter typically houses 40 to 45 dogs. Bob Citrullo, executive director of the Cedar Valley Humane Society shelter, said its shelter can handle about 40 dogs at once.

Fillenworth said her dog-boarding business is not a problem for anyone but the Wagners, and she said the Wagners have turned a few incidents into a campaign to shut her down.

City officials have intervened - though not to require Canine Corner to comply with the zoning ordinance. Rather, they propose to change the zoning status of Canine Corner to bring the property into accord with the ordinance.

“They've refused to admit they (hadn't enforced the ordinance),” said Brian Wagner, 51, who owns a chimney-sweeping business. His wife, Christine, 41, works for Transamerica. “Now, they've rewarded her even though she hasn't followed the law. … They've turned their back on us. … It makes us feel like we're trash, like we're nothing.”

The dispute also has raised a question for the Block by Block neighborhood-rebuilding program, which bought and renovated the flood-damaged, two-story house next to Canine Corner and then sold it to the Wagners in December. The Wagners said they were not given a fair portrayal of the dog-boarding business next door.

Jim Ernst, president/CEO of the Four Oaks family services agency and a principal figure in Block by Block, said the program didn't know about any problems with the zoning status of Canine Corner.

“I can't imagine the Realtor (for Block by Block) did anything inappropriate or said something that wasn't true about Canine Corner next door,” Ernst said.

The Wagners say they asked Block by Block's real estate agent about Fillenworth's house and business and were assured that Canine Corner was in large part a pet-grooming business and would be a good neighbor.

Block by Block is a joint effort of Four Oaks' Affordable Housing Network Inc. and the neighborhood ministry Matthew 25. Courtney Ball, a co-director of the ministry, is siding with Fillenworth in the spat.

Ball calls Fillenworth “a rock” who has given much to the block and neighborhood, and he points out that she was among the first neighbors to fix up her property after the June 2008 flood.

Fillenworth, 58, said the Wagners are exaggerating the noise from the barking dogs and said she has taken steps, including no-bark collars when dogs are outside, to eliminate noise.

“They're saying I have this noisy facility with dogs outside barking all hours of the day and night,” she said. “That's so untrue. … This is very upsetting to me. They're going after me personally and (after) my dogs.”

Bev Stripling, former occupant for 40 years of the Wagner house, said the dogs were a problem in the past, too.

“It would have been nice to stay there since I lived there for 40 years,” Stripling said, “but when the flood hit, I was so glad to get out of there. Those dogs just made it impossible.”

Last week, on a 5-9 vote, the City Planning Commission sided with Fillenworth and recommended changing the zoning on Fillenworth's property from office/service to a C-2 commercial district to legally allow her business to remain as a conditional use.

Fillenworth will have to build a 2,400-square-foot enclosure onto her house and keep boarded dogs inside it, rather than allowing them to run in her fenced-in yard. She also must add soundproofing to the structure. Fillenworth considers her 10 rescued Belgian shepherds her personal dogs and not subject to the requirements.

The City Council will have the final say on the zoning changes. The Board of Adjustment will have final say on conditional-use permits.