City may require dog leashes

Council also could outlaw keeping ‘derelict’ boats outside

Mentor leaders are looking to address concerns about unleashed animals and junk vehicles.

Legislation regarding animal control and property maintenance are on City Council’s agenda Nov. 8. Council meets at 7 p.m. on the third floor of city hall.

Law Director Richard Hennig recommended adding language requiring pet owners to keep animals — not including cats — “restrained by a leash or tether when off the premises of the owner, keeper or harborer.” Council addressed cat concerns in March.

“We never really said you have to have dogs on a leash,” Hennig said. “We said it has to be ‘under control.’ It’s not like it’s been a big problem, but it has drawn a couple of complaints. … I don’t care how well-mannered your dog is, there’s always something out there that can make a dog do something that surprises its owner.”

The other ordinance targets “derelict boats,” he said. Council will consider amending its law relative to maintenance of premises to include vessels/watercrafts in its definitions of junk vehicles.

No owner or occupant of any premises shall maintain or permit to be maintained at or on the exterior property any of the following unless specifically authorized by a valid zoning or conditionaluse permit:

• Broken or dilapidated fences, walls or other structures

• Out-of-use or non-usable appliances and vehicle or vessel parts

• Any unlicensed or junk vehicle or vessel

“We allow people to have boats at their properties, in the side yard on a proper surface and they’re covered,” Hennig said. “That won’t change.”

He said the large majority of problems involve junk cars.

More detail is proposed in the definitions of junk vehicles, meaning: • Unlicensed • Left on private property without permission of the person having the right to possession of the private property

• Dismantled, partly dismantled, wrecked or otherwise extensively damaged; such damage may include: deflated, wrecked, or missing tires or rims; broken or missing headlights, taillights, or brake lights; broken, cracked or missing windows or windshields; missing all or part of the motor or transmission

• Inoperative or inoperable

“It’s just another tool to take care of the problem if it becomes one.” — Law Director Richard Hennig

• In an abandoned condition

• Cited for exhibiting any of the conditions above and subsequently covered by a sheet, tarp or other similar covering.

Junk vessel means any vessel that is: • Unlicensed • Left on private property without permission of the person having the right to possession of the private property

• Dismantled, partly dismantled, wrecked or otherwise extensively damaged; such damage may include: missing a deck, hull, transom, gunwales, motor or outdrive

• Left in a sunken, beached, or drifting condition, or otherwise in an abandoned condition • Inoperative or inoperable “People do, in fact, ditch their boat,” Hennig said. “It’s just another tool to take care of the problem if it becomes one.”