 Photo by Brad Franklin
Paws Inn will continue in its fight Owner says her business expects to continue locally
If Debbie Gibson didn’t say it, the signs around her business certainly would tell you that there is more going on there than merely taking care of animals.
“We have no intention of giving up in this,” Gibson said last week. “We’re taking this as far as we can because we think it’s the right thing to do.”
Gibson, owner of Paws Inn on Plaza Drive in Manakin-Sabot, has been at odds with Goochland County for some time. The issues center around her business and whether or not the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals was correct when it ruled in Gibson’s favor relative to zoning violations in September 2006.
According to Zoning Administrator Bob Hammond, Paws Inn was originally cited for complaints about noise relative to the animals being out between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The ordinance for the underlying zoning designation, B-1 (General Business), stipulates that the animals must be kept indoors.
In addition, and of much deeper concern to the county, is the business’s location. It sits on a lot that is only an acre in size. But the county’s ordinance, at the time Gibson started it, required three.
Essentially, when Gibson was planning the business, she said she was directed to the area by Hammond.
And when she eventually built in her present location, the county, by its own admission in court documents, erred in giving her a building certificate.
For more than a decade, Paws Inn has had a business license to operate the kennel and animal boarding facility.
“They’re trying to go back now but it’s too late,” Gibson said.
When Hammond and the planning department realized their error, they cited Gibson and asked that she consider moving her business. In the meantime, Gibson appealed to the BZA, stating that she shouldn’t have to move.
“This has been one trying, long ordeal,” Gibson said recently. “But our customers and a lot of other people have been so kind and thoughtful as we’ve fought this fight.”
Gibson opened Paws Inn, which has 40 rooms for dogs and the occasional cat, in 1997 after having worked for several years at another kennel.
As a matter of fact, she said she believes her varying work experiences have prepared her for this situation. And it’s proof, she said, that God has a plan.
“I don’t believe He would put me in this position if I weren’t prepared,” she said. “And this whole time, when things have gotten tough, I’ve relied on my faith in Him to protect me.”
With its three full-time staff members and four part-timers, Paws Inn has become a well-known establishment both locally and within the region.
“We’ve heard from a lot of our customers that we shouldn’t give up,” Gibson said. “They’re our biggest supporters and we would be lost without them.”
In the end, she believes the court will side with both Paws Inn and the BZA in affirming the decision, if it makes it that far.
“I think they’re going to see that the county made a mistake in saying I’m not an allowed use,” she said. “We’re going to stay here.”
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