A cease-and- desist order barring Kevin White, here with some of his dogs, from selling puppies from his South Kingstown home was upheld by the town’s Zoning Board last night.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — The Zoning Board last night upheld an order barring a man from selling puppies from his Holly Road home.

“There’s a clear violation here,” said Vice Chairman Robert Toth.

Kevin White had appealed a cease-and-desist order issued by Zoning Enforcement Officer Dexter Miller in August that said White was violating the town code by selling the puppies in a residential zone.

But White did little for his case last night, admitting to the board that he sold 15 to 20 puppies each year from 248 Holly Rd. He is unable to work because of an injury, he said, and sells the dogs to supplement his “very limited” income.

White did not deliver the racially charged threat to neighbors he raised to this reporter Tuesday, but he left the meeting with a cryptic warning to Miller and Building Official Russell “Bo” Brown that “they would be famous across the country before the day is over [today].”

White said the decision would force him to leave his property, but that in moving he would “cost his neighbors a bundle” by exercising his constitutional rights to freedom of speech and to bear arms. A police officer was posted in the Town Council chamber throughout the tense meeting.

Prior to the decision, Brown told the board that he asked Miller to call White about puppies for sale after receiving complaints. Miller issued him a violation notice after making an appointment to see the dogs and confirming they were being sold in the residential zone.

Chairman Ernest George asked Miller how many puppies had to be sold to constitute retail sales in a residential zone. He responded continual sales, but Brown interjected that the sale of a single dog amounted to a retail sale and was not allowed by code.

White criticized Miller’s tactics, saying he blindsiding him after pretending to be interested in buying a dog.

“All I know is it was done unethically,” White, 44, said.

He asked how many other residents the town had been cited for selling puppies, to which Brown responded he had “probably cited a couple of people” through the years.

George told White that his sales wouldn’t get a second glance if he lived off in the woods, but that certain uses upset neighbors.

“A lot of zoning violations are complaint driven,” George said.

White is raising eight pugs, two Bantam bulldogs and a French mastiff in the tightly-packed Ocean Ridge neighborhood, south of Route 1 near the Charlestown line.

The area is only busy in the summer, White said, prompting dozens of neighbors attending the appeal hearing to raise their hands in objection.

One such neighbor, David Avedisian, of Laurel Road, the only neighbor to speak, suggested that the appeal raised a greater issue: the need for changes in the Zoning Ordinance.

The greater problem is “you can have as many dogs as you want as long as you’re not selling them,” he said. “This should be ‘does he have too many animals for that lot?’ ”

Avedisian expressed frustration with being unable to take any action after more than two years of complaints, because the police could not cite White unless officers had witnessed the dogs barking for 29 minutes or more.

“This has gone on way too long,” he said.

Brown said neighbors needed to approach the Town Council and the Planning Board about zoning changes.

“It’s a tough issue; it’s a tricky one — limiting rights on property,” George said.

kmulvane@projo.com