SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Joel Blackford said he could barely step onto his back porch before the dogs would start barking.
"We've had upwards of 20 dogs here next to our backyard fence," Blackford told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik about the former kennel that operated out of a home directly adjacent to his on Marchman Drive in Sandy Springs.
Blackford said, at one point, the noise and smell coming from the neighbor's yard were both so overwhelming that he lost the use of his own backyard.
"The last 10 years things just became horrendous," he said.
After years of complaining to Fulton County, Blackford said he and his neighbors brought their concerns to the newly formed Sandy Springs City Council, which this week, passed tighter regulations on so-called home-based kennels, such as the one that Blackford dealt with for decades.
"When neighbor to neighbor breaks down, you've got to have some authority to come in and say we'll set a standard of reasonableness," he said.
According to the published ordinance on the city's website, anyone boarding more than four dogs over the age of four months for more than two weeks at a time, must get a special permit from the city manager's office.
"We have to distinguish between a commercial kennel and just somebody who happens to have young puppies," said Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos.
Blackford said his neighbors moved about two years ago, so the ordinance won't directly help him. But he said he's glad his plight paved the way for others to get some resolution if faced with the same problem.
"It's not that you can't have dogs," he said. "It's not that you can't raise dogs. It's that you have to meet a standard of reasonableness that'll make this a nice place to retire and a nice place to live."
WSBTV
