City considers adding more dog parks
NORWALK — The city is considering adding more dog parks following an increase in animal waste and need for pet-friendly spaces.
Interim Recreation and Parks Director Ken Hughes said at the Common Council’s Sept. 8 Recreation and Parks Committee meeting that he plans to propose new dog ordinances for the new parks master plan on which the department is working.
“It’s my feeling there are other sites where we probably should allow dogs at this time, but that will all be part of the new master plan, as well as a public hearing process,” Hughes said. “The public will definitely have a chance to weigh in, to give us their thoughts and ideas.”
The issue of dogs in Norwalk’s parks became prominent in late August when new “no dogs allowed” signs were installed in Oyster Shell Park after the Recreation Department experienced a spike in complaints about unleashed dogs and dog waste.
Taylor Farm on Calf Pasture Beach Road is a 4.5-acre plot dedicated to residents and their dogs,
“The public will definitely have a chance to weigh in, to give us their thoughts and ideas.”
Ken Hughes, interim Recreation and Parks director
with two areas designated for off-leash activities. Cranbury Park on Grumman Avenue also has a dog park area among its orchards.
But Hughes thinks more of Norwalk’s parks should accommodate dog owners and plans to suggest such changes for the new master plan.
“It definitely will not be a broad brush,” Hughes said. “The majority of parks will not allow dogs but there are a few parks currently that do not allow them, but probably should just based on people living in city and high-use areas and walkways. I think that discussion needs to be had.”
Council member John Kydes inquired whether the city is considering adding a dog park to part of Oyster Shell Park.
Hughes said the department is looking into the possibility as one of the master plan’s changes, however, there are environmental concerns to consider in adding a dog section to the park.
Some of the concerns stem from Oyster Shell being constructed atop a capped, or full, landfill.
“If there is going to be an issue with dogs and dog waste and runoff on that capped landfill and also, we need to really study the idea of penetrating the ground with fence posts and benches and other amenities that a dog park requires,” Hughes said. “We are very limited in what we can do up there because of the landfill cap, so that is something we are looking at now.”
About 80 percent of the city’s parks have “no dogs allowed” signs, but few residents seem to know dogs are not allowed in all but two of the parks.
Until recently, the dog ban was rarely enforced, but as the city’s demographics shift and more apartment-dwellers own pets, complaints regarding misbehaving canines have increased, Hughes has said.
“There’s an existing city ordinance that basically gives the director of Parks and Rec discretion on what sites dogs are or aren’t allowed,” Hughes said. “In the normal course of business, if somebody’s walking their dog through Oyster Shell, we don’t bother them. When it becomes an issue, which it has become recently in terms of dogs roaming free and people picking up their waste, that’s when we have to address it.”
Enforcement of the dog ban is controlled by Norwalk police, who will ask pet owners to leave the park if they are seen with unleashed dogs or spotted leaving waste behind. Hughes said the pet owners have complied when asked to leave the park.