Kristy Grant wins again — judge says she can operate cat shelter

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Aug 25, 2008 - 10:37:23am

Circuit Judge Robert K. Rouse Jr. has ruled Volusia County must either give cat-lover Kristy Grant of Pierson a license to shelter cats, or allow her to operate her sanctuary without one.

In a ruling Aug. 12, in response to the county's appeal, Rouse affirmed a decision he had made earlier: The county and its Animal Control Division may not apply dog laws to Grant's cat shelter, and the county must either issue her a hobby-breeder license or let her operate without one.

(View .pdf of ordinance.)

Without the license, Grant is not allowed to keep the 100-plus rescued cats she shelters on her Pierson property.

She has been fighting with Volusia County for more than a year. The county took code-enforcement action, and slapped her with a $150-a-day fine that has been mounting for months. Finally, she took the county to court.

In the meantime, the Volusia County Council is scheduled to vote Aug. 21 on a law change that would add cats to its existing ordinance regulating those who breed dogs for a hobby.

Rouse said Grant shouldn't have to wait; if the county has no regulations now that apply to her situation, she should be allowed to operate without the license.

Grant was happy Rouse's favorable ruling survived the county's appeal.

"I'm extremely happy. I'm excited," she said.

Grant operates Cat Tail Corner, a shelter for homeless cats, on her 10-acre property in Pierson. She is not interested in breeding cats, and all the cats that stay at Cat Tail Corner are spayed or neutered.

However, she wants to meet the legal requirements to run the shelter, and — according to county rules — that means she needs a breeder license.

Grant and her attorney, Eric Latinsky, faced county attorneys Luis Guzman and Michael Dyer at the Aug. 12 appeal hearing.

Judge Rouse listened to the county's arguments.

Dyer said no ordinance has been created to authorize the issuance of a cat hobby-breeder license. With no provisions, no criteria and no ordinance, no license can be issued, he said.

Latinsky commented later, "They brought up nothing new."

Latinsky said the county wants to make Grant wait a couple of years, while new restrictions for cat shelters are enacted. The requirement for a breeder license has been on the books since 1993, and the county has been working on criteria for a couple of years — since all this came up with Grant.

Grant's property, zoned Forestry Resource, meets the zoning requirements for the shelter. The county shouldn't tell her to apply for a license, then tell her there is no such license, Latinsky said.

Guzman said Grant first applied for a special exception to operate a kennel. The County Council turned her down. There were too many cats, Luis Guzman explained.

Grant sheltered around 200 cats at that time. The population is now around 130 or so.

Next, Grant applied for the hobby-breeder license, which offers provisions for a shelter.

She was again turned down, on the basis there were no criteria for a hobby-breeder license for cats. None had yet been written.

The legal dispute dragged on, while a $150 a day fine piled up. Grant said she understands the judge's order will negate the fine, now totaling somewhere in the neighborhood of $26,000 or $27,000.

County Chair Frank Bruno said he understands the judge's ruling will probably do away with the fine.

"The code board may have to come back and handle that," he said.

Grant's attorney, Latinsky, said, "Our position is that Ms. Grant should be grandfathered in."

Bruno said the county will work with Grant to make sure the cats are "contained and maintained."

Ordinance being prepared for County Council

Volusia County Council will look at a proposed ordinance for the cat-breeder license at its meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, at the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center at 123 W. Indiana Ave. in DeLand.

At its Aug. 7 meeting, the County Council asked county staff to put the item on the next meeting agenda, county attorney Dyer said. (Read the proposed ordinance on The Beacon Web site at http://www.beacononlinenews.com).

Grant's attorney, Latinsky, said he's read the amended ordinance covering breeding, sheltering and training of cats and dogs, and it doesn't impress him.

The ordinance, if passed, would allow for only one breed of dog or cat, and no more than 25 cats on the premises. If allowed outside, the cats would have to be contained in an enclosure that has four sides and a roof — in essence, a big cage.

"You wouldn't train only one breed of dog. You wouldn't shelter only one kind of cat," he said.

Also, a top for a cat enclosure shouldn't be needed, Latinsky added.

Grant's new "cat proof" fence, specially designed to confine the cats to her property, should be sufficient, in her case, he said.

County Chair Bruno said the limit of 25 cats will likely be revised upward.

"I don't know what the council will settle for," Bruno said.

He expects a lot of discussion.

Bruno said, if Grant's fence is cat proof, so her cats are not interfering with neighbors, that will help him bring her case to a resolution.

"I wasn't trying to pick on her," he said. "I was just trying to protect the neighbors. We don't want to open it up so people will have 200 or 300 cats in their back yards."

Grant said a petition in support of Cat Tail Corner was signed by all her neighbors except two who made the original complaints about her cats. The petition has been sent to the county.

Guzman said he, too, been asked if he has a grudge against Grant. He said he does not.

Latinsky doesn't think county staff or officials have a grudge against Grant. He speculated they have been afraid that if they issued Grant a license, they would get more license requests they haven't want to deal with, yet.

Latinsky said County Council members should have sat down with Grant in the beginning to iron out criteria for her operation, but they were not willing to do that.

One more matter to deal with

Grant said she still faces one more legal hurdle, the still-pending county lawsuit charging her with creating a public nuisance because of the shelter.

"It's another way they're trying to shut me down. I'm not a nuisance," she said.

Grant doesn't have a court date yet for that case.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

Comment on this article

Commenting is closed for this article.

If you would like to contribute a letter to the editor, please click here.

Did you find this story interesting or informative? Subscribe to The DeLand-Deltona Beacon to read more stories by Pat Hatfield, along with others from our award-winning writers. Subscribe now!