West Lake Hills clarifies dog ordinance
City attorney says measure’s definitions, approaches to enforcement were revised.
The West Lake Hills City Council recently approved changes to an ordinance pertaining to dogs in an attempt to address some residents’ concerns about animals that are a nuisance or danger to residents and other pets.
“We made some changes in definitions,” Mayor Linda Anthony said during the April 26 City Council meeting. “It bothered me a great deal that ‘mischievous dogs’ was in there . ... The actions described, such as overturning trash, chasing cars, barking — those are nuisances . ... It’s a good place to start to make the ordinance more enforceable and address some things that area upsetting our residents.”
City Attorney Alan Bojorquez said the ordinance has been reconfigured to be less confusing and to clarify the three approaches to enforcement — dogs might be responsible for a nuisance, might be “aggressive” or might be “dangerous.” The “aggressive” designation allows the city to levy fines on dog owners. The “dangerous” designation triggers state laws which require the dog owner to take extreme measures of compliance, including a $100,000 insurance policy.
“Now if (dogowners) are ticketed, if they are a repeat offender, the range of fine the judge has to choose from is higher,” Bojorquez said after the meeting.
During the meeting, the council heard from Mike and Peggy Presley, who say they’ve dealt with numerous issues created by a pair of particularly troublesome neighborhood dogs. Mike Pres- ley said that based on information he’d gleaned from an open records request, many complaints by himself and neighbors resulted in 10 citations over the past several years, but of those, only one resulted in a fine paid by the dogs’ owner. The issue goes beyond barking, Peggy Presleysaid. She expressed fears that the dogs may one day attack herself or her grandchildren.
“When our courts system lets him off with a plea that he’s going to be a better guy, what am I to do?” Presley asked. “There’s no ‘three strikes and you’re out.’”
Police Chief Scott Gerdes said he’s tightened up enforcement of the nuisance ordinance within the past 30 days, since the council last discussed the issue. Every time a police officer responds and hears a dog barking, they make a report, he said.