Should dogs be allowed in parks? New Jersey town says no

FANWOOD, New Jersey (PIX11) — Like most public leisure open areas, LaGrande Park has basketball and tennis courts, a baseball/softball diamond and a playground. One factor it doesn’t have is canine within the park, not to mention a canine run.

The explanation for the absence of four-legged Fanwood residents within the city’s parks is City Ordinance 05-21-R. It requires that canine be licensed, vaccinated, leashed, that their waste be correctly disposed and that they not enter any of the city’s three public parks.

“The regulation makes loads of sense,” mentioned Carolyn Brink, a Fanwood resident, and the pet guardian of a goldendoodle named Beckett. “It’s simply this one line within the regulation of a a number of web page ordinance, that simply doesn’t belong It doesn’t match at this time’s Fanwood.”

Brink is main an effort by neighbors who need canine allowed within the park to get the city council to revise the ordinance and permit canine in, with their human households.

The council has a gathering on Monday to find out whether or not or to not start a course of to revise the ordinance. An advisory board to the council just lately thought of the canine ban, and voted by a slender margin — 6 to five — to maintain the restriction.

Fur mother and father like Amy and Larry Cohen mentioned that it’s incorrect that they, longstanding residents and taxpayers, financially assist the maintenance of the parks, however these amenities aren’t accessible by their total household. That features their two canine, Shea and Ty, who, the Cohens mentioned, abide by the foundations, together with them.

“We’re not asking them to run freely,” Amy Cohen mentioned. “We do need homeowners to choose up, and ensure canine are nonetheless licensed, so we are able to undergo the park.”

A part of the rationale that canine homeowners like them need park entry is {that a} majority of streets within the sq. mile city haven’t any sidewalks. Because of this, most individuals, and their canine, should stroll on the street, since they will’t enter the park.

There have been some grievance calls about canine within the park in latest months, however each non-dog proprietor who spoke with PIX11 Information concerning the scenario had the identical opinion as Karen Sheirer, a Fanwood resident who was in LaGrande Park on Monday afternoon together with her youngsters and their pals.

“I don’t thoughts canine within the park,” Sheirer mentioned, “however I do hope all the foundations are adopted, and that they clear up after the canine, and hold them on leashes.”

The 7 p.m. assembly on the city’s municipal courtroom will characteristic a council vote on whether or not or to not start the method of amending the ordinance. The method may take months, if authorised.