LEWES, DE. - A couple in Lewes hoping to turn their basement into a dog grooming business is getting some push back.
The Savannah street home has a basement with a walk-in from the street. This is where the couple, Sara Prieto and Stephen Matthews, hope to renovate the basement for their business idea.
Prieto told WBOC she's been grooming dogs for 16 years. She said it's always been a dream of hers to own her own salon.
"I get to be a part of the community I grew up in," Prieto said. "I get to give back to this same community and help enrich this community, um, I wanna be a part of it, I wanna make sure that everybody knows who I am that I am your neighborhood dog groomer."
Matthews said that the experience has been eye-opening.
"We were not expecting the level of pushback that we got," Matthews said.
City officials told WBOC that the current city code does not consider dog grooming as a home-based business. For the couple's business to be permitted, they said the code would need to change.
However, some neighbors are opposed to the business venture. Multiple neighbors came to a recent city council meeting to challenge the idea.
"We came to Lewes for this to have a home, not a business next to us," one neighbor at the meeting said.
"There's hazardous waste, there's odor, there's smell," another added.
Prieto showed WBOC a counter-petition she made. The paper had 134 signatures in support for her dog salon.
City officials told WBOC that the Lewes Planning Commission plans to discuss updating the code at their meeting on August 21st.
If the planning commission gives the amendments the green light, the code change would then go before city council.