Village of Godfrey Board of Trustees: Public Safety, Finance, Board Meetings
GODFREY – After almost an hour of debate, the Godfrey Village Board approved the rezoning of a property on West Delmar to allow the Peachy Paws dog daycare and grooming salon to expand into a new location.
The ordinance on Tuesday night’s agenda called for changing the zoning classification for 1610 W. Delmar Ave. from R-3 Single Family Residential to B-4 Highway Business.
Opposing the plan were a group of local neighbors, including three women from a nearby condo association, who expressed concerns about feces being left around the area and noise from dogs barking throughout the day and night.
Trustees and members of the public made impassioned arguments for and against the rezoning during one of the lengthiest and most crowded Village Board meetings in recent history.
As multiple neighbors pointed out, the property in question has fallen into a state of disrepair over the past 10 years. Peachy Paws Owner Amber Dyer, who plans to invest about $500,000 into renovating the building, spoke about her vision for the new space while attempting to ease concerns of area neighbors.
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“I’ve maxed out the space in my current location and am requesting rezoning of the old daycare on Delmar to expand my business and better meet the needs of the community,” Dyer said. “My business is more of a small, boutique-type feel, rather than a big corporate chain company.”
Dyer said the daycare service would operate during standard business hours with some training sessions on weekends, but absolutely “no overnights at all.” She emphasized this would not be a large, kennel-like facility, but an environment for small groups of dogs to engage in focused training and playing sessions.
“When most people think of a doggy daycare, they think of 30 dogs running around at once – that will not be the case for my daycare,” she explained. “My daycare will focus on enrichment in small group and private play for dogs. This will mean only small groups of dogs will be playing at once and will be supervised the entire time. My business also has very, very strict cleaning procedures, so there will not be animal waste around the property.”
Some critics supported Dyer’s plan to renovate the derelict West Delmar building, but questioned the location of a dog daycare within a residential neighborhood instead of somewhere outside of town. One resident said having the facility in town would actually be more convenient for dog owners and would help foster relationships within the community.
Yet another group was less concerned with the current business plan than the other potential businesses that could open there in the future under the new zoning classification. Dyer agreed with some community members who mentioned it would be highly unlikely for a business owner to suddenly abandon their nearly half-a-million-dollar investment.
Citing concerns with future businesses moving in under the new zoning, Trustee Jeff Weber sought to refer the item back to the village’s Building and Zoning Department; that motion failed on a 2-4 vote, with him and Trustee Rick Lauschke casting the two votes in support.
Trustees then unanimously voted to approve the zoning change, setting the plans for the Peachy Paws expansion on West Delmar officially in motion. Several meeting attendees erupted into applause upon the item’s passage.
A full recording of the March 4, 2025 Godfrey Village Board meeting is available at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
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