The birds and beasts live
in a residential animal hospice on Long
Island, and their owners, Susan Marino and
Victor LaBruna, are fighting an amendment
to the town’s zoning code that may
have the muscle to close it.
“This is discrimination, pure and
simple, and we’ll take it to the highest
court before we let them shut us down,”
said Ms. Marino, who has operated the hospice,
called Angel’s Gate, for 13 years.
People who can no longer care for their
ailing pets take them to the hospice, and
Ms. Marino and Mr. LaBruna take them in.
The dogs, cats, ducks, geese, chickens,
goats, ponies and pigeons live at the couple’s
home, a 2,500-square-foot ranch house, which
is on an acre and a third.
Patrick Vecchio, the town supervisor, insisted
that no decision had been made on whether
to shut down the hospice but that the town
wanted it moved.
“We’re not critical of the
service, but we believe a home in a residential
zone is not an apt place for this facility,”
he said. “Volunteers come and go.
Parking is an issue. Twelve cans of garbage
every pickup day; that can be hard on the
neighbors.”
The amended law, adopted July 11, bans
animal hospices in residential zones but
not in commercial districts.
“The amendment was necessary because
the town never had a category for animal
hospices before,” Mr. Vecchio said.
“Angel’s Gate will have to comply.”
But Dan Dillon, a lawyer for the hospice,
said he had appealed the zoning change and
would sue the village if he loses. Mr. LaBruna
said that more than 5,000 people had signed
a petition asking the town not to amend
its law to make the hospice illegal.
“The town board says the hospice
belongs in an industrial park, but why should
Ms. Marino have to live in a warehouse?”
Mr. Dillon said. “The amendment lumps
the nonprofit hospice with money-making
enterprises like veterinary clinics. But
these are her pets, and there’s no
legal limit on the number she’s allowed
to have.”
Mr. LaBruna said that he and Ms. Marino
moved to Smithtown because the area was
zoned for agricultural use and animals would
be allowed.
In May, Leonard and Shirley Samansky drove
to Angel’s Gate from their home in
Great Neck to see if it was the right place
for their beloved but incontinent 17-year-old
Jack Russell terrier, Sam.
“There was no garbage, no odor, just
happy, thriving animals and the magnificent
people who care for them,” Mr. Samansky
said.
Today Sam is being cared for by Mr. LaBruna
and Ms. Marino.
“Angel’s Gate was never found
to be operating illegally,” said Mr.
Samansky, who is a lawyer and the mayor
of the village of Saddle Rock. “What’s
illegal is for the town to single them out
and target them with a zoning change.”
A few months before the Samanskys moved
Sam, Ken Burke, who lives across the street
from Angel’s Gate, joined with 10
neighbors and asked the town board for the
zoning amendment.
“It’s not an animal issue,
it’s a business issue,” Mr.
Burke said. “They’ve outgrown
the facility. We want them moved.”
Yvonne Lieffrig, the Smithtown town attorney,
said the town was acting within its authority
to make that happen. “The facility
was never legal from the start,” she
said.
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