A family in Salisbury, N.B. with a passion for horses may be fighting a losing battle with the village after being informed they violated a municipal bylaw.
Gerrie and Yan Dangremond moved to the village from the Netherlands four years ago to give their daughters a better life.
They bought a five-and-a-half acre property in Salisbury with a barn thinking it would be the perfect place for their horses Misty and Reiner, but after they built a fence to keep their horses in, they received a notice from the village.
“We didn’t have a permit, so we couldn’t build a fence,” Gerrie said.
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The Southeast Regional Service Commission said they had violated a municipal bylaw, by building a fence without a permit, something the newcomers never even realized.
“It scared me a bit because it was an official letter, so I called them immediately and he said, ‘no, you have to have a permit for that,'” Gerrie added.
The family also wasn’t aware that their property was zoned residential not agricultural and the horses would also have to go.
According to the commission, the Dangremonds never had the right to have the horses in the first place. The land was zoned residential when they moved in and even though 600 residents in the community have signed a petition calling for the land the be rezoned they may be fighting a losing battle.
On Monday, the commission said the village still has no plans to rezone the land.
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“This is where they want to see low-density housing grown and not agriculture uses, so it was the municipality’s right to not entertain the rezoning.” said Bill Wright with the commission.
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