BY PAUL MITCHELLNorth Country This Week

CANTON – This month’s regular meeting of the Canton Town Board on Wednesday, Feb. 14, will be preceded by a fourth public hearing on a local law amending the town zoning law and other land use laws.

The public hearing will begin at 5 p.m. in the Canton Municipal Building courtroom. The town board meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

A Jan. 10 public hearing on the town zoning code resulted in no action from the town board.

At that hearing, language regarding kennels and animal shelters was questioned. Janes Road resident Margaret Mauch expressed her views on the matter, mainly directed at the animal sanctuary No Dogs Left Behind, 1734 NY 68.

“There is presently no request to operate an animal shelter in the Town of Canton. With a shelter being a non-permitted land use in the current code, the next step would have been to request a land use variance. The previous applications have been withdrawn and replaced with the “grandfathered” land use of a kennel at the proposed location. This apparently satisfied all parties involved,” she said.

“Since being an “animal shelter” is no longer an issue, it should be withdrawn from the Code. On December 15, 2025, the new NYS Shelter Law Chapter 683 governing and defining shelters will be in effect and may supersede some of the proposed animal shelter conditions. The work has already been done. The Town of Canton does not need to include in the code a land use that is no longer requested or even pertinent at this time.”

“Should the Town Board decide to leave animal shelter definitions and conditions in the new Town Zoning Code, it is important that an animal shelter require a Special Use permit and review,” Mauch concluded.

The proposed local law also cleans up language for permitted uses for cideries in R/A zones.

Written comments will be accepted by Town Clerk Heidi Smith, at townclerk@cantonny.gov, until 2 p.m. Feb. 14.

Residents can find a copy of the 164-page document at http://wdt.me/phYBwD.