East Lyme to consider adding boardwalk dog ban to town ordinance
East Lyme — An existing rule barring people from walking dogs on the Niantic Bay Boardwalk could carry fines, if a revised town ordinance is approved.
Town officials are considering revising an existing ordinance for town beaches and parks to include the ban against walking dogs on the boardwalk, at the request of the Parks and Recreation Commission.
They are also considering adding to the ordinance the rule against bringing dogs onto town-owned beaches and McCook Point Park between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
The ordinance would not apply to certified service dogs.
First Selectman Mark Nickerson said the revised ordinance would enable the enforcement of existing rules.
"What this does is give the police the authority to fine," Nickerson said at Wednesday's Board of Selectmen meeting. "If it's not in this ordinance, all we can do is say: please don't and then please don't and then please don't — and there are some persistent abusers of the situation."
The Board of Selectmen voted Wednesday to send to a public hearing the proposed ordinance revisions. The hearing will be held at 7:15 p.m. April 19 at Town Hall.
The existing ordinance, for areas under jurisdiction of the Parks and Recreation Commission, lays out what is not allowed on town beaches and parks, including drinking alcohol in prohibited areas, littering, and building fires, except in fireplaces.
The ordinance said violators can be fined up to $50.
Nickerson said there has been a lot of discussion on social media about bringing dogs on the boardwalk, but there are many strong reasons that the town doesn't allow them.
The Parks and Recreation Commission requested the ordinance change after receiving multiple complaints about people walking dogs on the boardwalk, David Putnam, the town's parks and recreation director, said in a phone interview before the meeting Wednesday. He said dogs on the boardwalk raise both safety and clean-up concerns.
"It's a pretty small area," Putnam said about the boardwalk. "It's a thin walkway, and sometimes people weren't cleaning up after their pets."
The town already has a policy to not allow dogs on the boardwalk, but the ordinance would have "more teeth" and enable fines, he said.
Nickerson added that dogs are allowed on town beaches up until Memorial Day, as well as at Samuel M. Peretz Park year-round.
A group of residents in town is fundraising to build a dog park in town in the future.
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