Cat hotel owner gets crash course in red tape

On the surface, it's a pretty simple business endeavour: a cat hotel to board up to 120 animals whose owners are on vacation.

But for Francois Risdon, it's become a crash course in city bureaucracy. One of the biggest hurdles? Paying $10,000 for a zoning change because the bylaw defined kennels as being for dogs, not cats.  

Risdon is three years and $50,000 into trying to establish Fancy Felines on Millgrove Side Road in Flamborough. That's not including the small farm he bought for more than $600,000 just so he could lawfully have a kennel, or the roughly $150,000 it's going to cost him to build it. 

'I'm not trying to put a garbage dump or a gas plant or an auto wrecker in rural Flamborough.'- Francois Risdon

The maintenance worker at Lester B. Pearson International Airport says it's been a lesson in the red tape small business owners go through in dealing with city and provincial regulations.

"We're in the neighbourhood of $50,000 and I haven't even stuck a shovel in the ground," said Risdon, who volunteers with wife Nicki at the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA and boards cats through the barn cat program.

In the process, Risdon said, everyone is "treated like a Walmart."

"They have the same standards for me as they would some other conglomerate coming in," he said. "I'm not trying to put a garbage dump or a gas plant or an auto wrecker in rural Flamborough. I'm trying to put a little kitty cat kennel in."

Francois Risdon spent thousands on a zoning amendment for Fancy Felines because an old Flamborough bylaw says kennels are for "four or more dogs." (Samantha Craggs/CBC)

Risdon and his wife, an early childhood educator, got the idea for the cat kennel about three years ago. Their beloved cat Gibson was "a surrogate child" to the couple, he said, and Gibson needed daily medication. They left for a month to visit family and boarded Gibson at a north Burlington cat-only kennel.

There are other kennels in Hamilton, Risdon said, but they board dogs and cats, and the presence of dogs would have made Gibson skittish.

They met with the city to discuss the viability of a cat kennel. The Town of Flamborough zoning bylaw, they learned, allows kennels as a secondary use on farmland. So they bought a 23-acre plot of farmland at 548 Millgrove Side Road, some of which they now lease to a farmer.

Dogs, not cats 

But the Flamborough zoning bylaw defines a kennel as being a place for four or more dogs. Risdon spent thousands to apply for an amendment so "dog" could be changed to "cat." The city distributed notice of the application to neighbours in March.

On Tuesday, more than a year after initial application, the planning committee approved the amendment. No one showed up to speak against it.

'I'm not trying to put a garbage dump or a gas plant or an auto wrecker in rural Flamborough. I'm trying to put a little kitty cat kennel in.'- Francois Risdon

 Risdon has also done a slope stability plan for erosion assessment. He's had an archaeological study and a survey. He's hired an architect to draw up the building plans. He may need a drainage plan.

Under the Flamborough zoning bylaw, the cattery would require 11 parking spaces. City planners are only recommending four parking spaces, saying 11 aren't necessary.

Risdon is relieved.

"In my wildest, I wouldn't think I'd need 11 parking spaces," he said.

New rural zoning coming

The city is working on a new rural zoning bylaw that will help people in Risdon's situation, said Steve Robichaud, director of planning.

For example, the language will be more lenient and generic, so Risdon wouldn't have to apply for zoning amendment because he has cats and not dogs.

'Can we move to speed things up a bit? I certainly hope so.'- Coun. Judi Partridge

"The new bylaw will use a little more generic language and bring more flexibility," Robichaud said. "It will eliminate the need for a lot of these variances."

"In the future, landowners won't have to come back with a definitional change."

The new bylaw will include, among other changes, new parking standards for rural areas, Robichaud said.

Public input sought

There have been several public meetings already on the rural zoning bylaw, said Coun. Judi Partridge of Ward 15. There will be a big one from 1 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. on March 31 at city hall council chambers.

Staff will listen to feedback and come back with a bylaw for approval in late April or early May, Partridge said.

The city has also established a rural planning team to look at the unique needs of rural applications, she said. The idea is to ease the process for would-be entrepreneurs such as the Risdons.

"Can we move to speed things up a bit? I certainly hope so," Partridge said.

Hopes to open in 2016

As for the cat kennel application, "I love it," she said.

"That area can very much support that type of operation if it's done property, and going through the process like they've done, they're doing it properly."

Council will vote to ratify the planning decision on Feb. 11. Then Risdon goes through the site plan process where the city approves the details of the property. Then he builds the building.

He aims to have the cat hotel open in 2016. It will be purpose-built and a special place for pets, he said, and likely employ two people.

"I'm not even close to being done," he said. 

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