Yesterday marked the end of a stressful saga for a family-owned business in Maricopa’s rural Thunderbird Farms neighborhood.  

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors narrowly voted 3-2 to deny one of two special use permits that would have allowed Abbott’s German Shepherds to continue its commercial dog-breeding operations. The other permit was approved 4-1, allowing the operations at a second property to continue.  

Supervisor Rich Vitiello (R-Maricopa) said he ultimately voted against both permits because he was concerned the Abbott family had “never done anything correct from the beginning.” 

“I denied both because if you haven’t been doing things right over the past 30 years, what makes me think you’re going to be doing things right after [getting permitted]?” the supervisor who lives in Cobblestone Farms told InMaricopa this morning. 

Vitiello during the meeting yesterday said the issue was a simple matter of following the rules. 

“Throughout the county, the issue is: Do something wrong, get caught and then ask for forgiveness,” Vitiello said. “Is that how we’re supposed to run a government? Would you run your business that way?” 

Abbott’s German Shepherds currently operates with only kennel permits, which are allowed for residences that maintain five or more dogs. But operating on a 3⅓-acre suburban ranch requires special permission from the county because the code states these kennels must encompass at least 5 acres to operate in suburban ranching zones. 

That’s where the special use permits stepped in. Those, along with a list of stipulations, would allow the breeding business to continue operations on two properties: one near Jean Drive and White Road and the other near Val Vista and Ralston Roads. 

The county Development Services Department and Planning and Zoning Commission agreed with this sentiment, but the Board of Supervisors had the final say in the matter.  

The Val Vista property is the only one now allowed to move forward with business operations. The property has maintained a commercial kennel license continuously since 2014, although Vitiello insisted it “never should have been granted” one. The Jean Drive property has switched between commercial and non-commercial licenses since 2018, with several lapses.  

Kennel owner Shell Abbott maintained that she has “always been in compliance with [Pinal County] Animal Care and Control.” And even if she wasn’t, Abbott lamented that her representative in Florence would sooner shut her down than guide her to compliance, which she posits ought to be a function of local elected government. 

Vitiello “very much made it clear that if you do not know everything before you start a business, don’t start it in rural Maricopa because he will not go back and help you get in compliance,” she said. 

Not ideal but not the end for owners 

Until yesterday, Abbott, who lives on the Jean Drive property, said she “would not have picked this” option. 

She described nonstop requests, meetings and tedium spanning several uncomfortable months, only to be denied the special use permit. 

“My SUP had so many stipulations on it and that would have been stressful. I would have always felt like I was at risk of losing my SUP if I did one misstep,” she told InMaricopa. “This is not what I would have picked, but this is less stressful than having an SUP on my property.” 

Abbott did not specify how the business would move forward. She said it was working to ensure the Val Vista property is compliant “to being a commercial SUP property.” 

“The No. 1 thing is that the dogs are still well taken care of, and [we can breed] the best puppies for the families,” she said.