Van Nuys : Owner of Cat Shelter Asked to Move Pets

Hundreds of abandoned, abused and sick cats may soon be forced to move from a haven run by the nonprofit group Pets for Life.

Doris Romeo, who traps feral, injured and homeless cats and provides them with medicine and food at a rented house near Van Nuys Airport, was told last week by city officials that she has 30 days to vacate--with all of her wards--because the cat shelter she maintains is too close to a residential area.

Although the property Romeo owns is zoned for light manufacturing--which permits kennel operations--other properties within 500 feet of Romeo’s shelter are zoned for residential use, Romeo said.

“We’re sort of in a bind,” Romeo said Monday. “Even though no one is living anywhere near the area where we run the shelter, the zoning maps must show some areas nearby us as residential,” she said. “And you can’t operate a kennel that close to a residential zone.”

Romeo said city officials recently advised her to apply for a zoning variance, which would allow her to maintain the shelter. But even if a variance is granted, she may still be forced to move, because the owner of the house she rents is trying to sell the property.

“If anybody out there has any ideas, or can help, we’d sure like to hear from them,” Romeo said. “We’re desperate, just buying time each month, until we can find a suitable place to move the animals.”

Romeo has run the shelter for more than 200 cats in Van Nuys since 1993, with help of Charyne Anderson, who lives at the property as full-time caretaker of the cats.

For further information, call Pets for Life at (310) 289-7831.