Proposed dog ordinance sparks controversy in Norwich

NORWICH — A proposed animal control ordinance that would further restrict where dogs can roam free in town has inspired debate among town officials, dog owners and other residents.

Unlike Norwich’s existing ordinance, the proposal would require dogs to be leashed on Gile Mountain trail, Milton Frye Nature Area, part of Blue Ribbon Connector Trail and the base of Ballard Trail, where the former town pool was located.

Most controversially, the ordinance also would ban dogs from the marked athletic fields at Huntley Meadows and require dogs to be leashed on any other part of the meadow, which is located at 111 Turnpike Road and managed by the Norwich Parks and Recreation Department. It has seven athletic fields, a handful of tennis courts, and a baseball and a softball diamond. Dog owners frequent the open green space to give their dogs, and themselves, and chance to stretch their legs and catch up with friends.

“My dog is a lifesaver to say the least,” resident Elfie Forbes said, with tears in her eyes, at a Wednesday night Selectboard meeting. “When I hurt my knee, I couldn’t go on all the trails. I took my dog to Huntley so we could go on a loop. It’s a place where people who don’t have the legs to go on Upper Valley trails can bring their dogs.”

Forbes was among the nearly two dozen residents who unleashed their opinions for more than an hour on Wednesday, prompting the Selectboard to vote unanimously to continue discussion of the ordinance at its next meeting on May 14.

While dogs and their owners benefit from the town’s mixed-use spaces, they also have been the sites of conflict in recent years.

“Almost every one of our bites and attacks have been in these recreation areas,” Matthew Romei, Norwich’s police chief, said via Zoom.

Norwich has had an animal control ordinance for several years, but a desire to update it “has gone back at least two or three police chiefs,” Town Manager Brennan Duffy said at the meeting. The process was jump-started when at the end of last summer, a biker was bitten by a dog and the owner would not come forward to prove the animal was not rabid, Duffy said.

Much of the proposed ordinance is modeled after language from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. The section on Huntley Meadows is closely aligned with the Vermont Principals’ Association’s regulations for dogs in recreation areas, Romei said.

Under the current ordinance, owners receive a verbal warning for the first violation, a written warning for the second, a $50 fine for a third violation and a dog is impounded if its owner cannot be immediately located.

Under the proposed ordinance, dog owners would be fined $50 for a first offense and impoundment could be used as a means of enforcing the ordinance.

“Instead of creating a system where dog owners who want to exercise and socialize with their dog are marked as criminals, why not invest resources in education and, when needed, enforcement of the existing requirement that dogs be under the verbal control of their owners when off-leash?” resident Alexa Manning said.

Other residents expressed their gratitude to the Selectboard for seeking to tighten rules on dogs and their owners.

“I have stopped walking Ballard trail because I’ve had dogs run up to me and jump on me with their muddy paws with no owner to be seen,” Barbara Tolman said via Zoom. “I live near Huntley Meadows and if there’s a dog running around I don’t go there.”

Stephanie Wolff, who has lived on Turnpike Road adjacent to Huntley Meadows for 14 years, said dogs wander through and go to the bathroom in her yard and garden and she often hears “loud, sustained barking and yelling of owners.”

She suggested that a group of dog owners who meet regularly on weekends at Huntley Meadows go “elsewhere.”

“We’re a rural, small town who should be able to accommodate the needs of everyone,” she said.

In addition to considering the new ordinance, the town also is exploring plans to create a fenced dog park at Huntley Meadows and a dog meadow behind the St. Francis church on Beaver Meadow Road, Selectboard Chairwoman Mary Layton said.

However, several residents expressed their distaste for this idea as well. “I’m in complete support of community spaces to get together, but I believe Huntley Meadows is not the place for a dog park,” Wolff said.

Manning argued a fenced dog park is not the solution. “Dog parks equals dogs fighting,” she said. “It’s like the basketball court at a prison.”

Board members remained quiet throughout most of the discussion, but expressed their gratitude to the public for weighing in and asked for residents to email the board at selectboard@norwich.vt.us with specific changes they’d like to see to the ordinance.

“I hear all of your comments,” Vice Chairman Kimo Griggs said. “We’re making sausage here and we don’t have an effective way to communicate with all of you.”

Once the board moved on from discussing the ordinance, residents cleared out of the meeting room and mingled in the hallway to debrief and thank each other for sharing their perspectives.

“We’re a great community,” Manning said. “It doesn’t mean we don’t argue, but I’m looking at this as how can we come together as a community.”

The Recreation Council plans to discuss the possibility of a dog park at its Tuesday, May 6 meeting at 7 p.m. on Zoom and in Tracy Hall. The Selectboard is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m. in Tracy Hall and on Zoom.

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.