Downtown doggies: Canines welcome in the city?
Palmerston North’s doggy denizens could soon make a return to the central city.
Dogs have been prohibited from the streets within the central city’s ring road for the past 20 years, but they may soon get their day once again.
The city council’s planning and strategy committee has recommended going out to the public to test the mood for a more dog-friendly approach.
Cr Lew Findlay said he totally supported the idea of a trial that would allow dogs on leads back into the city centre.
He said people who had been out exercising their dogs should be able to walk through the city and stop off to have a cup of coffee, sitting outside with a dog at their feet.
Cr Rachel Bowen said the rules would have to change as the council pursued its goals to have a more vibrant city centre.
‘‘Inevitably, some of them will have companion animals, and at the moment we put them in a position where they have no choice but to break our bylaw when they step outside with them.’’
City councillor and vet Lorna Johnson said many big cities around the world, including Paris, welcomed dogs, and it was time to seek public opinion.
‘‘It would be a chance to test whether some of the fears about dogs in the central business district are practical concerns, or just fears.’’
Council policy analyst Ann-marie Mori said online feedback earlier this year yielded a mixture of views, but there was a theme about whether some restrictions could be relaxed about dogs.
Her suggestion was to ask people whether they would support allowing dogs on leads to attend up to 10 events in the central city each year.
But Cr Susan Baty said that could become confusing if people saw dogs there on one occasion, but did not understand that was a special one-day-only dispensation.
She said there would have to be close monitoring of any trial to ensure the safety of children, and to ensure dog owners were responsible about picking up dog poo and keeping their dogs under control.
There were a couple of councillors opposed to the idea, Adrian Broad and Vaughan Dennison.
Dennison said there was potential for unintended consequences.
‘‘And not everybody wants to sit and have a cup of coffee in town with a dog sniffing their ankles.’’
Dog owner Matt Williamson said dogs should be allowed in the city centre, but owners had to make sure they were well behaved.
‘‘I probably wouldn’t myself. But if other people wanted to, I don’t have a problem with it.’’
Some people got nervous around big dogs, so owners needed to keep an eye on them, he said.
The policy is likely to go out for public consultation in 2018.
As well as relaxing the rules for the central city, the draft policy would consider whether bans on where dogs could go should be relaxed in other places, such as sports fields when they were not being played on.
Councillors would then consider the feedback, and finalise a policy that would be put into effect through changes in the Dog Control Bylaw.