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Darwin Vincent, an architect for a planned conversion of La Fleur Stables to a dog boarding facility, walks with his dogs Willow and Clancy. The La Fleur family is hoping to convert the farm in the town of Middleton from an equestrian enterprise to a canine boarding business.
The La Fleur family knows all too well that starting a new business is not so easy.
This year, the La Fleurs have twice tried and failed to get approvals to convert their longtime horse stables near Verona to a dog kennel.
Neighbors, the closest of which lives 240 feet away from the proposed dog boarding facility, are worried about the noise from barking dogs. But the La Fleurs have an independent noise study that found a worst case scenario for animal noise would be comparable with ambient noise.
The town of Middleton board has already voted against a permit for the Four Paws Pet Services kennel twice: once in a deadlocked 2-2 vote and again in a 3-2 vote. Apart from noise, board members worried about dog waste. The La Fleurs plan to have the waste removed twice a week and have already handled horse waste on the site for about two decades.
But the kennels have gotten support from planning officials. The town’s plan commission has endorsed it, and Dane County planning staff found that the La Fleurs satisfied permit requirements with their second application.
The family has been surprised by the pushback from neighbors, particularly at Town Board meetings. That’s why the La Fleurs are shaking up their strategy to change people’s minds.
They’ve hired a lawyer and a communications consultant. And on Monday, the La Fleurs held an open house at their 15-acre property.
As neighbors strolled the stables on Monday, they mostly reiterated ongoing concerns about noise and property values but acknowledged the La Fleurs are trying to address them.
“They seem to have been attentive to concerns,” said Phyllis Dorosheff, adding that she has a “middle of the road” stance toward the kennel.
Another neighbor, Tommy West, called the permit process for the kennel “a complex issue.”
“I want to be an educated neighbor,” West said.
La Fleur Stables is a longtime fixture in horse raising in the area. The La Fleurs built their current stables in the town of Middleton in the late 1990s.
Since the 1960s, the equestrian-minded La Fleur family has raised horses in the Dane County area and beyond. The original stables were located in Stoughton and near Fond du Lac until the current stables were built in the early 2000s. Horses from the stables have competed regionally and nationally.
Perched past the slope of a plush green hill off Meadow Road, the halls of the stables are lined with colorful competition ribbons and decades of photos showing off the stables’ successes.
“It’s very much a family affair,” said Lena La Fleur, the granddaughter of the stables’ founders, Dan and Marlene La Fleur.
But as times have changed, the community need for stables has dwindled, she said.
“With the growth within our community, we feel that transitioning from a horse stable, which is maybe not as needed or wanted from our community, transitioning to dogs seems like an appropriate decision,” she said.
Originally, the La Fleurs proposed a 400-dog kennel and moving the horses to ancillary barns on the property. A facility of that scale did not get the backing of Dane County planning staff, who found that potential noise from the dogs failed to meet permit standards. The La Fleurs withdrew their application 10 days after a May 8 Town Board meeting that saw members vote 2-2 against the permit.
Back at the drawing board, the La Fleurs resubmitted their permit application in May, this time proposing a 100-dog kennel. Dane County staff found that the new application satisfied the needed requirements, particularly noise mitigation, thanks to added limits on outdoor play time for the dogs.
Still, the Town Board rejected the permit 3-2.
“We’re telling the county we don’t want it,” said Ken Opin, a board member.
Lena La Fleur, of La Fleur Stables, closes the door to the stall of her horse, Blue. “It’s very much a family affair,” La Fleur said of her family’s business.
“The barking of 15 dogs, you know, would just be intolerable,” Opin said. “It just seemed incongruous to have this in an area that’s otherwise residential.”
After the La Fleurs withdrew their application a second time, they set out to actually test how loud the kennel would be and its impact on nearby residents.
A sound study from Hankard Environmental involved blasting 100 decibels of white noise and the sound of barking dogs inside the stables with the doors open and closed.
Hankard described the sound as “uncomfortably loud” and louder than other operational kennels they’ve studied. But even that sound was barely audible halfway between the stables and the closest residences, Hankard said in a summary of their findings.
“Overall, the existing building does a very good job of blocking noise from reaching nearby residences,” the study concluded.
With a sound study in hand the family hopes will dispel noise concerns, they reintroduced their application last week, now proposing a 150-dog kennel. A kennel at that scale is comparable to other pet boarding facilities in the Madison area. On the Far East Side, Camp K9 Pet Resort and Day Camp can house up to 130 dogs. Hickory Hills Kennel on the Southwest Side can have 50 in its facility.
“I think they’ll feel some comfort in knowing we have done more research now,” Lena La Fleur said of those opposed to the kennel.
Going forward, the La Fleurs’ permit will once again go before the town of Middleton’s Plan Commission on Sept. 6.
Town Board Chair Cynthia Richson, who attended the open house on Monday, said her main concern is still whether the kennel would be compatible with the surrounding area. Richson said an open house at the stables would have been helpful at the onset of the now monthslong permitting battle.
The town doesn’t “want to ruin people’s quiet enjoyment of their home,” Richson said.
“We have to be practical and good to citizens and neighbors,” she said.
State Journal reporters Margot Amouyal and Will Romano contributed to this report.
This week’s recipe roundup features dishes that take advantage of late-summer vegetables. They’re perfect for Labor Day celebrations or any weeknight meal.
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Darwin Vincent, an architect for a planned conversion of La Fleur Stables to a dog boarding facility, walks with his dogs Willow and Clancy. The La Fleur family is hoping to convert the farm in the town of Middleton from an equestrian enterprise to a canine boarding business.
Lena La Fleur, of La Fleur Stables, closes the door to the stall of her horse, Blue. “It’s very much a family affair,” La Fleur said of her family’s business.
La Fleur Stables is a longtime fixture in horse raising in the area. The La Fleurs built their current stables in the town of Middleton in the late 1990s.
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