The owners of a junk removal business that employs veterans will be allowed to have a home office.
The Dixon Planning Commission voted 6-0 Tuesday to approve a home occupation permit for JDog Junk Removal.
Typically, the commission would not have to review this type of permit, associate planner Scott Greeley said, but three neighbors emailed the city with concerns when they were notified of the new business.
They were concerned about two trucks and a trailer at the Weyand Way residence, as well as the advertising on the trucks. Neighbors also have made accusations that televisions and mattresses were already left in the front yard.
Greeley noted in a report that only one truck is allowed to be on-site, but wrote that no garbage was seen when staff visited the site.
Other residents and members of the planning commission also commented that the house and yard were “spick-and-span.”
As for the trucks advertising the business, Greeley said that is considered free speech and is protected.
The applicants, Rob and Monica Baugher, are simply looking to have a home office, Greeley clarified.
“This is not going to be a junk yard,” he said.
However, the number of trailers allowed on-site will be limited to one, so they will need to find another location for the second.
Rob Baugher said that the reason JDog local owners spends thousands of dollars wrapping their vehicles and trailers is so they can stage them in public areas, not in front of their homes, to advertise.
This is just the situation they are in at the moment because they do not yet have many customers or another location for the trailers, he told the commission.
Additionally, they just want a home occupancy for a short time until they earn enough funds to move to Davis, Woodland or somewhere else between Yolo County and Fairfield, he said.
“What’s upsetting is the neighbors didn’t come and talk to me themselves,” the Marine veteran said. “That’s a little irritable.”
Members of the public who addressed the commission Tuesday spoke in support of the new business.
A local nurse said JDog helped a hoarder patient of hers get debris out of her house, sell some items and clean up her life.
“What they’re doing is not just a business, it’s to enrich the lives of those in the community,” she said.
Another woman said the wrapped vehicles are the better part of the neighborhood, more so than other parked vehicles that are covered in cobwebs. There was a horse trailer that was parked for months in the neighborhood and that was not a problem, she said.
She thought Baugher should be able to have two trailers because he is not blocking anyone else.
The limit to one trailer is in the municipal code, according to community development director Dina Tasini.
Commission chair Kevin Johnson said he has had friends who moved into neighborhoods where there is clearly an unlicensed home occupancy, such as a landscaping business with three to six vehicles parked in the neighborhood.
“I will also say that your house is immaculate,” he told the Baughers.
They are always looking for ways to promote business, he added, but they also have to look at what if there is a business that is not as neat and clean.
Also Tuesday, the commission voted 6-0 to approve a conditional use permit for Dynamic Healing Massage at 409 North Adams St.
The Dixon City Council approved in 2015 an ordinance that requires all massage studios to undergo this type of review.
Massage is already offered at this location in another suite, Simply Beautiful Salon and Spa, but Greeley said that Dynamic Healing is by appointment only and has just one employee. Simply Beautiful has set hours.
A hearing on an application for what would be Dixon’s second Dutch Bros. Coffee, proposed for 1400 Market Lane, was continued to a date uncertain.
The commission also selected Kevin Johnson and David Reese to continue serving as chair and vice chair, respectively, of the commission.
