LEXINGTON, Ky (LEX 18) – A Lexington developer is working to clarify a restrictive dog breed policy that prompted outrage in a subdivision.
LEX 18 brought you the story Monday. A dozen different breeds were banned from the McConnell’s Trace community, even though many of the people living there own their property.
Neighbors were outraged.
"I think it’s not very, let’s say, neighborhood friendly," said McConnell’s Trace homeowner Tom Dobbs.
The neighborhood’s developer, Anderson Communities, sent out a letter last week alerting residents that a change in the deed restrictions meant that German Shepherds, Pit Bulls (including American Staffordshire Terriers, American Pit Bull Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, or "any dog containing characteristics of these breeds"), Huskies, Rottweilers, Mastiffs, Doberman Pinschers, Alaskan Malamutes, Chows, Great Danes, St. Bernards, and Akitas are now prohibited.
Dennis Anderson tells LEX 18 this is all a big misunderstanding. He says the restrictions were put in place in 2006 due to one family’s problematic pit bull.
"Mothers were afraid to letter their children out on the street, mothers were afraid to go out to the mailbox. IT was just a really unsafe feeling for a family to have to go through," Anderson told LEX 18.
Anderson says in the last 12 years, they have never removed a dog or cited a family, because there haven’t been any problems. As for the recent letter, he says they wanted to add the restrictions to newer parts of the neighborhood where it wasn’t already enacted.
"I’m a dog owner myself. It isn’t about dogs, or bad people or anything else. It was just trying to provide a safe place for people to live in the quiet enjoyment of their own home," he says.
