Wrong location for a commercial kennel

Dear Editor:

We write as concerned, longtime homeowners living near 19211 Silcott Springs Road in Purcellville, which is the subject of a pending Special Exception LEGI-2024-0014, SPEX 2024-0028 request to operate a 15-dog daycare and kennel 24/7.

We oppose this special exception. Our neighborhood is not composed of large agricultural parcels but rather a rural residential community of approximately 5-acre lots.  A 24/7 commercial kennel housing 15 dogs is fundamentally incompatible with the character, scale, and intended use of this area.

The 4.85-acre property has already been operating such a kennel for years—exceeding the county’s four-dog limit and violating zoning ordinances—with no apparent enforcement. Repeated complaints and inquiries have gone unanswered.

Why is the county failing to enforce its own rules? Zoning exists to protect communities from exactly this kind of intrusion.

Despite claims of sound mitigation, the barking is loud and impossible to ignore. It cuts through the air from both the kennel building and outdoor fenced areas,  echoing across neighbors’ yards and into our homes.  No vegetative buffer can stop it. Picture sitting on your deck on quiet Sunday morning—only to be jolted by barking. This isn’t hypothetical. It’s already disrupting our lives.

Furthermore, the daily drop-offs and pick-ups for 15 dogs would potentially generate up to 30 additional car trips per day on a narrow, winding rural road already strained by speeding commuter traffic. This raises serious safety and compatibility concerns. Country roads were not built for this level of commercial traffic.

Approving this special exception would set a troubling precedent. If a 15-dog kennel is allowed on less than 5 acres, what might be allowed next? Western Loudoun’s rural residential character depends on the integrity of existing zoning ordinances.

As longtime residents, we ask that our voices be heard. The consequences of this decision fall on us, not county planners. This is the wrong location for such an operation.

Jamie and Nancy Meissner

Joe and Linda Vill

Bill and Eileen Vroom