LAGUNA BEACH : Plan to Ban Dogs From Parks Dropped

Dog lovers have persuaded city leaders to drop a proposal to ban canines from small parks and play areas.

Many who spoke before the City Council on Tuesday night said dogs should not be punished for problems caused by irresponsible owners who don’t clean up after their pets.

They suggested a variety of solutions, from encouraging “citizen’s arrests” of offending dog owners to organizing a “Pick Up Poop Day.”

“Dogs are great and dogs are wonderful,” one woman said. “It’s the owner that’s the problem.”

The question of whether dogs should be banned from the play areas was raised by Mayor Ann Christoph, who said she has seen dogs relieve themselves in confined recreation spaces where she was picnicking and youngsters were playing.

But many animal owners railed at the prospect of restrictions on their pets.

“Picnics and children and dogs have from time immemorial gone together,” former Mayor Phyllis Sweeney said before the meeting.

This is not the first time the issue of how much freedom dogs should have has raised hackles in this community.

More than 20 years ago, animal lovers reacted with fury to an ordinance approved by the council to ban dogs from city beaches. Residents turned out at the council meeting in such large numbers that the meeting had to be moved to the Laguna Beach High School auditorium.

“The community went berserk and organized a referendum,” said Sweeney, who served on the council from 1972 to 1978.

The opposition organized a “march on the beach” by dogs and their owners, Sweeney said, and the council rescinded the ordinance.

More recently, when some residents pushed in 1992 for the right to exercise their pets unleashed during certain hours and opponents demanded the animals be restrained, the city compromised by opening Orange County’s only park specifically for dogs.

The “Bark Park” along Laguna Canyon Road is now the only place in town where dogs are allowed off leash.

Because some residents continue to allow their pets to run unrestrained, especially on the beach, the city in the past month doubled the fines for such offenses and increased enforcement by animal control officers.

On Tuesday, the council was set to consider further regulations on dogs and refer the matter to the city staff and the Recreation Committee for study and to determine which parks and play areas should be off limits to canines.

However, the council voted unanimously to refer the matter to the city’s recreation committee for suggestions only.