Milford Zoning Board Denies Five-Dog Special Permit on Three-to-Two Vote

Zoning Board · Meeting of January 8, 2026

Milford Zoning Board denies five-dog residential permit after neighbor barking complaints. The Zoning Board of Appeals voted three to two on January 8 to grant a six-month special permit to Regana Ferreira of 1 Esther Drive, who sought to keep five dogs under Milford's residential kennel by-law — but the motion failed because the by-law requires four affirmative votes. Chair David R.

Consigli, who made the motion, said he was trying to balance the applicant's attachment to her animals against sustained quality-of-life complaints from neighbors, including abutter Lou Shazaki Copeland of 3 Western Drive, who testified to "over a year of all day off and on high pitched loud barking." Kevin Dorsey of Cricket Lane and Tony Cirelli, who lives above and behind the property, corroborated the noise problem and questioned whether bark collars were a reliable long-term fix. Ferreira, who had three dogs before one gave birth to a litter that left her with five registered animals, was told she must now reduce to three.

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Source: the Zoning Board meeting of January 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.