West Vancouver District staff will also look at a long-term strategy to make the municipality more Fido-friendly.
West Vancouver has gone crazy.
On Monday evening, a majority of council voted to ease long-standing restrictions that prevent canine companions from walking with their owners near many local parks and on the West Vancouver Seawalk.
Advice. Linda Watt and Christine Cassidy led the vote to change the rules, arguing it was high time West Vancouver became more Fido-friendly.
Until now, dogs were not allowed on the Seawalk in West Vancouver – with the exception of the dog run area which is separated from the public walkway by a chain link fence. Dogs have also been banned within five meters of many other public spaces in the municipality, including playgrounds, sports fields, golf courses, tennis courts, basketball courts, beaches recreational swimming and picnic areas.
Cassidy and Watt said these regulations are outdated, especially in the wake of the increase in pet ownership that followed the COVID pandemic. About 35 percent of households have dogs, Watt said, which equates to about 6,000 households in West Vancouver.
Watt said when she started looking at the rules about where dogs can roam, “I realized we were the most restrictive. »
Several dog owners showed up to council Monday night to support easing restrictions on where dogs can be walked.
Michael Cates, who lives in Horseshoe Bay, said there were dozens of dog owners in his neighborhood and “many of us were dismayed to see dogs being banned from the (new) park “.
Several speakers said that most dog owners consider their four-legged friends to be family and that excluding dogs from popular areas like the Seawalk does not promote inclusivity.
“I understand why people object if they focus on the stereotype of the bad dog owner,” Jennifer Azizi said. “But is it right to exclude us all based on the selfish behavior of a few?
Lisa Brasso told the council there was “no logical basis for the current restrictions” and that the specter of “dogs fighting, barking, drooling and running over people with tangled leashes” did not arise. produced in other communities.
One member of the public, Norma Gibson, spoke out against easing restrictions on dogs, saying it could make the Seawalk less attractive to people in wheelchairs, joggers, the elderly or people with young children.
Several people wrote to the council with similar concerns.
Advice. Nora Gambioli said she was neutral about the dogs, but was concerned about the lack of public consultation on the issue, particularly when the topic proved so hot when council discussed it ago more than ten years.
Cassidy said: “If there are two issues that are overly divisive or difficult in this community, it’s trees and dogs…we didn’t want to go through this endless series of bureaucracy or government consultation and end up exactly at the same location.
Gambioli said she was opposed to changing the rules without the public having an opportunity to comment. “I think there hasn’t been a thorough public debate,” she said.
Mayor Mark Sager said his wife was a “lifelong dog rescuer,” but he also received emails from people “vehemently opposed” to changing the rules.
He added that if the council changed the restrictions on dogs and “if it turned into a big disaster, the council could always change them”.
Ultimately, the council voted to return leashed dogs to the Seawalk – along with councillors. Gambioli and Thompson opposed this – and to remove setback rules, meaning leashed dogs can now be walked on the periphery of playgrounds and sports fields. The lifting of restrictions will not apply to commercial dog walkers.
According to an earlier report by Watt and Cassidy, it will cost the municipality just under $7,400 in start-up costs to install new trash cans and dog waste panels, and just under $6,300 per year in maintenance costs. staff and dog poop bags to open new areas. to dogs.
Council also voted for staff to develop a long-term dog strategy.