Updated Aug. 16 at 3:47 p.m. to include the applicant's withdrawal of the special-use permit request.

Published July 18 at 10:49 p.m.

Cedar Park Planning and Zoning Commission passed a special-use permit request for a dog and cat boarding facility at 2200 E. Whitestone Blvd. by a vote of 4-2 at its meeting Tuesday.

This comes shortly after council members approved another special-use permit for a Camp Bow Bow dog boarding kennel at 1805 Clover Lane at a meeting June 22.

Adelman Holdings-Whitestone LLC, the applicant for the proposed kennel on East Whitestone Boulevard, plans to develop a Pet Paradise boarding kennel. Fernando Acosta-Rua, Pet Paradise president and chief executive officer, said there are 27 Pet Paradise locations in various states.

The approximately 15,000-square-foot building—which sits on around 2.02 acres southeast of the Arrow Point Drive and East Whitestone intersection—would house grooming services, boarding suites and an interior play yard for dogs, according to the agenda packet and Cedar Park Planning Manager Melissa McCollum. Outdoor play would be limited to daytime hours, McCollum said.

Notices about the proposal were sent to seven property owners within 300 feet of the property in early July, according to the agenda packet.

“Dogs bark, there’s no doubt about it,” said Russell Patronella, a property owner whose home is south of the proposed kennel.

He said sound carries easily in the area, and the area’s potential for “noise is the perfect storm for an acoustic nightmare.”

Patronella organized a petition opposing the kennel with the signatures of individuals from the Cottages and Abrantes subdivisions off Arrow Point Drive.

Ten citizens at the meeting were opposed to the development, with an additional resident voicing questions while remaining neutral.

Citizens who spoke said they were concerned about potential noise, as well as decreasing property values, odor and pollution.

Various sound buffers will be employed to prevent noise, such as sound baffles, mats that absorb vibrations, Acosta-Rua said.

He said if dogs are “barking excessively, they would be held inside at that point.”

The applicant agreed to add requirements to the special-use permit at the request of city staff, McCollum said. These requirements include installing additional screening, fencing, sound mitigation and trees, as well as compliance with parking and access regulations from the site development ordinance, McCollum said.

The zoning commission approved the special-use permit with these requirements, as well as recommendations the developers conduct a noise study, work with the community on the project, and control noise and activity at the southern barrier of the facility.

Commission Chairman Eric Boyce said he hopes the community and Pet Paradise can “work together” to create an “amicable” situation.

Commissioners Kevin Harris and Candace Lambert opposed the motion. Commissioner Audrey Wernecke was absent Tuesday night.

Brian Franco, vice president of real estate for Pet Paradise, withdrew the company's request for a special use permit Aug. 1, according to a letter from Franco to Cedar Park Director of Development Services Christopher Copple.