WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
With nearly 1,000 votes cast, voters in the city of Sturgis Tuesday rejected a request to amend a city ordinance regarding the number of dogs kept on any premises in the city limits.
Almost 15 percent of the city’s registered voters decided by a margin of 648 against and 294 in favor of changing the ordinance to not put a limit the number of dogs allowed to live at any residence or business.
Sturgis’ ordinance currently prohibits any individual, group or business from maintaining a dog kennel inside the city limits. That ordinance defines a kennel as any location that has more than two dogs.
Resident Rick Carter, owner of three dogs, filed a citizen-initiative petition in January, signed by more than 21 registered voters. That forced the Sturgis City Commission to either repeal the existing dog limit ordinance or send the question to the ballot for voters to decide.
Carter said Tuesday the vote will have no consequence on him, as he is moving out of state by the end of the month to take on a new job.
