Selectmen seek compromise on beach dog ban

By Patrick Anderson
Staff writer

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MANCHESTER — With a Town Meeting vote to cast all dogs off Singing Beach less than a week away, selectmen want to soften the proposed year-round ban and allow animals on the sand during the five coldest months of the year, from November to March.

Selectmen, searching for some middle ground between the residents who placed the ban on the Town Meeting warrant by petition and the dog owners who strongly oppose it, yesterday offered an amendment to the article that would expand the existing summer ban on dogs at the beach by two months to include April and October, but retain dog privileges during the remainder of the year. Currently, dogs are banned from the town-owned beach from April 30 to Oct. 1.

Debating the article as a group for the first time, selectmen acknowledged it was unlikely the amendment would satisfy all sides, but said they hoped it was something people could live with. The two new warm-weather, dog-free months would give people distracted by the dogs more beachwalking time, selectmen said, and give the beach more time to cleanse itself of any dog waste before the majority of visitors arrive in the summer.

Vice Chairman Jack Shea said he believed the number of dogs on the beach during warm days presented safety issues, both from uncontrolled animals and waste problems. But he said a blanket ban would affect too many people and was too blunt a tool.

"I don't support it as written," Shea said of the existing article. "It's too harsh. I do support that something has to be done to reduce the impact of dogs on the beach."

Shea said he would support stepped-up enforcement of existing parking rules, per-person dog limits and requirements that dog owners pick up after their pets. But he reminded residents that having people down there would not come without a cost.

Chairwoman Susan Thorne, who was a signer of the petition to put the ban on the warrant, said she thought the majority of the dogs on the beach were being brought by nonresidents, whom the town should not go out of its way to accommodate.

Selectmen voted 4-1 in favor of the amendment with Selectman Mary Hardwick dissenting.

Hardwick said she didn't think adding two more months to the summer ban addressed the root of the conflict and was concerned selectmen would be dealing with the dog issue again next year. "It doesn't cure the problem," Hardwick said. "I think we are just going to be opening up another can of worms."

Proponents of the ban say the beach is being overwhelmed by the number of dogs being brought there each day and residents who don't own dogs are avoiding it for fear they will be harassed by the animals or encounter droppings.

Opponents of the dog ban say during the vast majority of non-summer days, dog owners are the only ones using the beach and banning them would leave the area abandoned. They say allegations that dog owners do not clean up after their dogs are unfounded.

Singing Beach Committee Vice Chairman Paul Barclay, one of the most vocal opponents of the ban, said yesterday he didn't think the amendment improved anything, because the beaches were typically as empty of non-dog walkers in October and April as they were in February.

"If there really was a lot of use during these months, maybe it would make sense, but we have been down there and it is not true," Barclay said. "On Sunday the weather was nice and the beach was a virtual ghost town. The beach has never been cleaner."

Last month the Singing Beach Committee voted to oppose the dog ban article and leave the rules for use of Singing Beach as they are.

Regulating human and animal use of Singing Beach has been an issue for town officials several times over the last few years.

In 2006, selectmen, looking to keep professional dog walkers off Singing Beach, voted to make it illegal for an individual to bring more than two dogs to the beach. That measure has been largely uncontroversial, but a move to reduce the number of out-of-towners at the beach during the off-season by making parking by anyone without a resident sticker illegal, met with fierce opposition.

Since then selectmen carved out 20 spaces in the lot where nonresidents would be allowed to park.

Town Meeting will take place Monday, March 7, at 6:45 p.m. at Memorial Elementary School.

Patrick Anderson may be contacted at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.

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