Kennel transition likely smooth

Newport Beach City Council members will consider an ordinance Tuesday to regulate the many dog kennels in Newport Beach’s newest neighborhood, West Santa Ana Heights.

The ordinance is the city’s first to govern dog kennels, said Newport Beach Assistant City Atty. Aaron Harp. Past rules have lumped together commercial kennels with people who own more than four dogs.

The ordinance has kept most of the provisions of Orange County’s rules for dog kennels, Harp said, so it should be a smooth transition for kennel owners in West Santa Ana Heights.

“We try to be good neighbors, because this is our livelihood,” said Judy Nichols, who owns Sunrun Kennels in West Santa Ana Heights with her husband, Ted Nichols.?

Sunrun boards the dogs of some of Newport’s most prominent residents, she said.

The business has had no clashes with city officials since it became part of Newport Beach along with the rest of the neighborhood Jan. 1, she said. The city annexed the neighborhood after residents pushed for several years to become part of Newport Beach.

The 83-acre, once-unincorporated West Santa Ana Heights bound by Santa Ana Avenue, Mesa Drive, and a flood control channel, is home to 12 dog kennels on one street alone, according to city reports.

The county’s rules on dog kennels in the area were adopted several years ago when some West Santa Ana Heights residents complained of constant barking and the cleanliness of some of the many kennels on Riverside Drive.

The county rules have worked well enough for kennel owners and residents alike, the city has decided to adopt similar rules, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Evan Sailor.

“There’s real changes to it,” Sailor said.

Under the rules the city wants to adopt, the kennels would have to get permits from the city to operate.

The ordinance also specifies the “general humane treatment” of animals, Harp said, and includes regulations on things like ventilation, heating and access of sunlight for animals.