There were more wagging fingers than wagging tails at the June 23 special joint Select Board and Park and Recreation Committee hearing about allowing dogs off-leash on the trails behind Rosemary Pond. Needham’s police chief was a clear “no” and a number of abutting property owners and other residents were also opposed, including several who had been bitten by off-leash pets. While feedback to the Park & Rec commission and the number of informal dog groups shows a strong desire for off-leash options, proponents did not advocate for the plan at Monday’s meeting.
The proposal was introduced by assistant town manager Katie King on behalf of the Active Recreation Assets Working Group, an ad hoc committee which cut across many town departments. After holding hearings and fielding a survey that had more than 400 responses, King said, the working group had looked at several possible sites for an off-leash pilot policy. The trails behind Rosemary, despite being open to some residents’ back yards, were seen as the least used and lowest-cost option for an off-leash test.
“The purpose of the proposal is to expand this amenity to community members,” King told the Select Board, but also to collect operational data. “The pilot was that time period to see if this is something you want to move forward with.” The pilot, if approved, would run from Aug. 1 to the end of the calendar year.
Police Chief John Schlittler spoke after King, and he stated that the department did not support the idea. “Allowing a trail on which dogs are off leash and in many cases out of sight and out of control of the owner is a very unsafe practice in my opinion.” Most dog bites, he noted, against humans or other dogs occur when dogs are off-leash. Schlittler said there have been 23 dog bites reported to the police so far this year.
He also said enforcement is challenging and rule-flouting by dog walkers is rampant. “There are dog walkers that bring 10 to 14 dogs at a time and let them off-leash in the town forest,” Schlittler said.
With that, Select Board chair Heidi Frail reminded the meeting that the idea of off-leash trails was popular with dog-owning residents. “I just wanted to be clear that this whole initiative was sparked by an enormous amount of resident advocacy.” As the working group considered the possibility, she said, “we did get a lot of feedback and not a lot of it was from folks who didn’t want this to happen.”
Most of the residents who spoke at Monday’s meeting, however, were in that latter category.
“I’m very much against this,” said Robert Payer, who lives on Lake Drive and predicts parking and public safety issues on the street. “I think that there are a lot of questionable pieces to this proposal, including three dogs per person and non-residents having access to this, where clearly it becomes unenforceable.” Payer had been attacked by a dog. “That was a situation of one person versus a dog. If there were two dogs, I would not have been able to fight that off myself.”
“The lack of fencing is a major concern,” said Payer. He reported that eight dogs currently live on Lake Drive, as well as many children. “There’s a lot of open yards. My dog is constantly in an open yard on a runner, and it’s very easy for other dogs to get into that yard to approach him. So I have major concerns as far as the access and the ability to manage that . . . I’m just, I’m very opposed to everything about this in its current state. I think a fenced-in dog park would make a lot more sense.”
Another Lake Drive resident, Harvey Winchester, said he’d had a bicycle accident when an off-leash dog ran under his wheel. Plus, he said, “I was a witness in Dover when two dog owners almost killed each other.” His upshot? “I am adamantly opposed.”
Colleen Brownell-Krupat is a pediatrician who reported having been bitten by a dog 11 days before. That dog was on a leash, she said, but if it had been off-leash she would likely have had to receive treatment for possible rabies.
Kara Holmquist presented a counterpoint. “We’re abutters,” she said, with two dogs of their own. “We are fine with the pilot project. I think the pilot is a really great way to see what would happen because I think there’s some assumptions of what could go wrong.” She offered some practical suggestions, such as limiting the area where the off-leash rule begins and limiting the number of dogs to two per owner.
The next step in the process is for the Select Board and Park & Rec to review the pilot plan in light of the concerns and outright opposition expressed at the hearing. Board chair Frail made it clear that no decision has been made on whether to move ahead with the pilot. Select Board member Marianne Cooley said, “Sounds to me like there’s no way the Aug. 1 date could be met. This is a horizon that is not immediate.” For now, Needham dog owners who want to walk their dogs off-leash will have to be the nonresidents using other towns’ trails.
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