Is this Bergen County pet lodge too loud? Neighbors say so in new lawsuit

Over a dozen people who live on the properties surrounding The Pet Lodge on Cedar Lane in River Vale say they're fed up with hearing dogs barking at all hours.

That's according to a new lawsuit, filed on Jan. 8, saying the noise is "unabated," "excessive" and "unreasonable" and that the use of the property as a dog kennel is not permitted there.

A limited liability company, 272 Cedar Lane, purchased the property in 2017. Owner Jac Ciardella had not yet been served the lawsuit and declined to comment Thursday.

Arthur Neiss, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said they filed the lawsuit as a way to mitigate the "unreasonably loud and annoying" barking from The Pet Lodge after going through official channels failed.

"At their properties and in their homes, the noise cannot be avoided," Neiss said. "[The] plaintiffs want peace and quiet in their homes."

According to the lawsuit, Sheldon Kaiser, the previous property owner, approached the zoning board in 1985 to build an addition to the property and a two-car garage that would partially serve as an office. The granted use variance specified that the addition would not be used to "enlarge or expand" the kennel.

The lawsuit says the board "did not find or determine, nor did it need to find or determine as a fact, that the kennel use of the property was a prior nonconforming use." The noise was also noted as complaints by residents opposing the application and the belief there was a dog grooming operation on the property.

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Kaiser let the application lapse but reapplied for a similar application in 1992, looking to add a bedroom, bathroom, family room and one-car garage. The 1992 application noted that the kennel pre-dated the River Vale zoning code and is considered a lawful preexisting non-conforming use. Like the 1985 approval, the 1992 approval didn't allow for expansion of the kennel.

According to the lawsuit, the LLC's purchase of the property resulted in the expansion of the kennel business. The business's website says it does a variety of things, including grooming and pet lodging.

The suit says the previous owner told the zoning board the dogs were typically inside the building except at certain times. The plaintiffs said the current owners use a kennel run that is outside the buildings, which the dogs use for several hours at different times "during any day or night."

"Dogs are on the property 365 days a year and 24 hours a day," the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, regardless of whether the dogs are inside or outside, residents are subjected to a "cacophony" that is "fluctuating, alarming, piercing and disturbing" and ruins the peace of the residents. The residents said they have filed various noise complaints with county health services over the last five years. Health services officials came out to the site and determined that the barking didn't violate the state's noise control act.

Residents have also filed complaints with the township Police Department, and the plaintiffs' said they didn't believe that any summonses or noise violations were issued.

The residents said they appeared before the Township Council four separate times and were told "there were no other steps" the council could take.

The residents argued that the "character, volume, frequency, duration time and locality of the noise" in a residential district was detrimental to their health even if the noise complied with state and township noise ordinances.

Some of the residents said they had "science-based acoustical measurements" taken from their properties with the windows open and shut when the dogs were outside, inside, and inside after being brought in from outside. The lawsuit says some of the measurements were taken in areas where recreational activities happened.

Neiss said a client's infant daughter has had her sleeping pattern disrupted because of the barking, and that the residents have tried to soundproof her bedroom to mitigate the effect on her.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: River Vale NJ Pet Lodge faces noise lawsuit from neighbors