Great Falls Animal Hospital Wants To Add 3 Outdoor Dog Runs

GREAT FALLS, VA — On Nov. 7, 2022, Seneca Hill Animal Hospital, Resort, and Spa in Great Falls received a notice of violation from Fairfax County.

The veterinary hospital had been operating an outdoor dog run at its 11415 Georgetown Pike location, which it wasn’t allowed to do under its current zoning. Since then, the dog run has not been used.

On March 25, CVP Operations VA LLC and Seneca Hill filed a special exception application with Fairfax County Planning and Zoning to allow the veterinary facility to reinstate outdoor dog runs so that the business could continue its operations.

Although Seneca Hill has been in operation since 1981, it moved to its current home in 2004. The current zoning for the 73,670 square-foot property, located east of the Georgetown Pike and Leesburg Pike intersection, is split into commercial (C-8) and residential (R-1).

"Permit a kennel and veterinary hospital with outdoor components, a waiver of setback requirements to permit the outdoor components within 100 feet of lot lines, an increase in fence or wall height in a front yard, and waiver of minimum lot size," according to Fairfax County's summary of the project.

The application calls for the addition of three outdoor dog runs. All of these would be kept in the The first dog run would be a grass-covered area located on the side of the building facing Georgetown Pike.

The second and third runs would be located at the rear of the building, near a telecommunications facility and Leesburg Pike. The ground is covered with a mix of grass and concrete. Each dog run would be surrounded by chain link fencing.

Seneca Hill is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturday, 8 a.m.- 2 p.m. The hospital is closed on Sunday. However, some dogs are kept at the facility outside of regular hours.

“There are 12 employees onsite at any one time,” according to the application. “Up to 120 dogs may be accommodated within the facility at any one time. A minimum ratio of one staff to 10 dogs will be maintained to ensure appropriate supervision of dogs onsite and to expeditiously clean up any eliminations that occur. Dogs that are in care at the resort and spa, if on-site longer than three hours, are taken outside every 3-6 hours between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.”

Between 7-8 a.m. and 10-11 p.m., all dogs outdoors will be kept on leashes. But outside of those times, the dogs will be permitted to run free within one of the three outdoor dog runs for up to 30 minutes at a time. No more than 15 dogs would be allowed outside at any one time and use of the outdoor dog runs would be staggered.

To address concerns over the environmental impact of so many dogs outside at any given time, CVP Operations and Seneca Hill included a five-point plan for dog waste disposal. In addition, each of the runs would have bioretention improvements to ensure that pet waste would be effectively treated and kept from draining onto adjacent properties.

“The combination of appropriate staff supervision, immediate disposal of pet waste, frequent cleansing of outdoor elimination areas, and thorough filtering and cleansing by the proposed bioretention facilities will ensure that no contaminants are entering the storm system and that odor will be mitigated to not have any adverse impacts on adjacent residences or businesses,” according to the application.

As of last Thursday, the application is still under review by county staff and no public hearing dates have been scheduled.