A Seymour woman had been operating a dog grooming business in a garage near her home.

Then Erin Sitterding was notified she needed a land use variance to do so.

She recently requested that during a Seymour Plan Commission meeting and gained a 7-3 favorable recommendation with Dave Eggers, Dan Robison and Jeri Wells casting the dissenting votes. Angie Klakamp was absent.

Then the proposal moved to the Seymour Board of Zoning Appeals for a final vote, and that passed 3-1 with Eggers, who also serves on that board, casting the lone nay. Jason Kleber was absent.

That means the 12-by-20-foot garage on property at 837 Phillips Lane was granted the C-2 (commercial) land use variance. It previously was categorized R-1 (single-family residential).

Sitterding told both city boards she only would be grooming a few dogs each day in her garage.

“I won’t keep dogs very long,” she said. “I wouldn’t keep any dogs overnight. No boarding or day care. I just want to groom dogs in and out by appointment.”

Robison asked Sitterding if she was currently running the business out of her garage, and she said when she found out she needed a land use variance, she stopped. She had been operating the business since January.

Nathan Frey, who acted as city engineer during the plan commission meeting, asked Sitterding about signage and parking. Sitterding said she only had a cling-type sign on her door and a metal sign beside the door, and customers would not need long-term parking.

“It’s going to be just one person at a time,” she said. “I just want to work with dogs that have anxiety or whatever the case may be that they can’t go to a big grooming shop and it’s better that they are not around other dogs.”

Plan commission member Mark Hays said the Seymour Police Department animal control officer had been called to the property three times in 2019, and Sitterding said that was in reference to her own dog. She wasn’t grooming other dogs at that point.

The only person to speak in favor of the proposal was Kylee Shippee during the BZA meeting. She lives next door and has had Sitterding groom her dog since it was a puppy so it would be acclimated to that.

“There have been no issues with any of the grooming,” Shippee said. “I have no complaints, and I think that this is her calling and that this is what she is meant to do, and I’m really excited for her to have a business that she can call her own. I totally am all for her having her own business, and I think it’s wonderful.”