Williston Dog Rescue Gets a Reprieve From the Supreme Court

The Vermont Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that home kennels are allowed under Williston’s zoning laws, a win for a dog rescue in town that was denied a permit after neighbors complained about barking, parking and traffic problems.

The ruling does not give Dawna Pederzani a zoning permit to run Vermont English Bulldog Rescue at her home on Lamplite Lane. But it should give her more options as a lower court reconsiders her case.

“It was kind of like finding the pony you had always hoped for under the Christmas tree,” Pederzani told Seven Days on Monday. “We can walk the dogs outside now.”

Pederzani has run the nonprofit, which rehabilitates dogs from shelters in San Antonio, Texas, out of her home since 2010. She transports dozens of dogs each month from high-kill shelters in Texas. At first, she only took bulldogs, but now she rescues all breeds. Most are matched with an adoptive family before arriving in Vermont.

But the nonprofit has grown in recent years and now adopts out about 450 dogs. For a time, Pederzani was holding large-scale puppy adoption days — where she facilitated the adoption of dozens of dogs at once — at her home. But after neighbors started complaining, Pederzani moved those events to the nearby Green Mountain Masonic Center.

Any dogs that were not adopted were brought back to her Lamplite home; typically, she said, fewer than five dogs.

The sign in front of the Masonic Hall Credit: Courtesy of Dawna Pederzani

Still, neighbors complained to the town. Some started taking photographs of the rescue’s volunteers walking dogs around the block.

Part of the problem was that Pederzani had not filed for an operational permit until 2021. She said Matt Boulanger, the town’s zoning administrator, had told her that she did not need to. But after receiving complaints from residents, Boulanger issued a notice of zoning violation, which meant Pederzani had to apply for a permit.

Ahead of a permit application hearing in November 2021, the Development Review Board received nearly 70 written comments.

“Our residential neighborhood is not an appropriate area to run a nonprofit dog rescue kennel due to traffic, noise, and safety concerns,” one resident wrote in a letter to the review board.

Many of Pederzani’s clients and volunteers wrote in support of the operation. Ultimately, though, the development review board denied the permit.

Pederzani appealed the board’s decision to the state environmental court, which upheld the board’s decision in January. The ruling found that Pederzani’s rescue was a home business, which, per town zoning law, is not allowed to operate in outdoor spaces.

Pederzani considered dropping the case. “I was exhausted, depressed and had spent thousands and thousands of dollars,” she said. But a friend advised her: “If you don’t do this, you are always going to wonder.” That was enough to convince the rescue owner to take the case to the state Supreme Court.

Pederzani presented her case at hearing in October. The Supreme Court’s decision was released earlier this month. It concluded that Pederzani’s business is allowed because it is not just a home business but a kennel, which is allowed in Williston’s zoning bylaws.

Supreme Court Justice William Cohen, in the court’s decision, wrote: “prohibiting outdoor uses of kennels in residential districts would render the provision permitting kennels as home businesses virtually meaningless because the operation of a kennel typically requires use of outdoor space for the proper care for dogs.”

The win does not guarantee Pederzani will obtain a zoning permit, though. The case will return to the state environmental court, which will again consider it and potentially determine the rescue’s fate, zoning administrator Boulanger said.

“It seems like it’s not quite over,” he told Seven Days on Tuesday.

A lawyer for neighbors who oppose the operation declined to comment.

While the decision doesn’t change much for Pederzani — most of the rescue’s operations now take place at the Masonic Hall, and her neighbors have told her they’ll continue to oppose it — she does feel some relief.

The decision means that she can walk dogs around the neighborhood and have them in her backyard without as much stress. She has no plans to bring the adoption events back to her home, though.

“It doesn’t change much other than making me feel incredibly happy,” Pederzani said. “It’s the best Christmas present my family and the rescue could get.”