Help Salisbury family keep their horses

Help Salisbury Family Keep Their Horses!

Since the Salisbury Mayor and Council Members refuse to help, the Dangremonds need $2,000 to pay the fee for "spot rezoning" application.

As reported by the CBC..

"A month after the village council in Salisbury said it would review its zoning bylaws, a 15-year-old girl has been told she probably won't be able to keep her two horses at home.

When the Dangremonds moved to Canada, they bought a five-acre parcel of land, not realizing their plans to keep horses there would violate Salisbury's zoning rules.

Now, after a protracted fight with the village council, the family has been told their home, barn and all — once designated as a rural zone — is not suitable for horses.

"The council and the mayor invited us to have a meeting with them," said Valerie Dangremond. "They said it's possible, but it's very unlikely that we'll get it."

The family has been trying to have their home redesignated as a rural zone. During a public meeting in early June, Coun. Beverly Best said the village was conducting a major review of its zoning bylaw, a process that takes place every five years.

It wasn't clear when that review would begin or wrap up.

No one from the village of Salisbury council responded to CBC's requests for an interview Monday.

Neighbours allowed to rezone

The Dangremonds met with the council and mayor to hear the bad news on June 29 and Valerie said they were give 10 days to decide how to proceed.

Since July 2, the family has pre-emptively made other accommodations for the horses that have meant walking the two equine pets, Misty and Reiner, approximately 150 metres down the street.

Dangremond doesn't understand why her neighbours are allowed to have horses and she can't. Next door to her family's property is a veterinarian clinic that was successfully rezoned.

"It's still rural so they can have their horses right next door, right on the other side of the fence," the teenager said.

Local residents fully support the Dangremonds' efforts to keep their horses at home.

After a drawn-out fight with Salisbury Village Council, the teenager's family has been told their home, barn and all, is not suitable for horses. (Joseph Tunney/CBC)

"With a village of 2,000, we have 800-plus signatures saying they're on board with having horses on the property here," said Don Henderson, another neighbour.

Dangremond said she hasn't been given a definite 'no' to rezoning and she plans to continue the fight — even if there seems to be little hope of success.

"They don't want to do anything to help us out, change our zoning. Even if it's just temporary," she said. "When I leave home in a few years, I'm taking them with me and there will never be horses here again.""