ROCKLAND, Maine — The Rockland City Council rejected Monday night any additional restrictions on dogs in public places.
The council voted unanimously to defeat an ordinance put forward in September by interim City Manager Tom Luttrell to prohibit dogs from Jaycee Park and the adjacent Kenniston Field on Old County Road from May 1 through Nov. 1. Owners who have their dogs on leashes or under voice command have been allowed to take their pets to those fields, which also are used for youth sports.
In addition, the proposal would have extended the existing time frame on dog bans at five other city-owned recreational areas by an additional month, through Nov. 1. Those sites were Johnson Memorial Park at Chickawaukie Lake, Sandy Beach, Merritt Park Playground on Limerock Street, Ocean Street Playground and the Warren Street Playground.
The proposal was put forward at a time when Snow Marine Park had been closed for much of the summer because of extremely high E. coli levels that initially were linked to dogs. Snow Marine is a heavily used park that is frequented by dogs and their owners.
The city ultimately determined, however, that the high E. coli levels were caused by several nearby homes not being connected to the public sewer.
In September, the council voted to postpone the proposal to expand prohibitions on dogs at certain public places until January to give the city time to investigate possible sites for dog parks. A park for dogs has been discussed in Rockland since 2009.
Mayor Frank Isganitis, Councilor Louise MacLellan-Ruf and businesswoman Suzanne Ward looked into potential sites, according to Luttrell.
He said Tuesday the committee members agreed that because Snow Marine Park already was being used as an informal dog park and dogs were not the source of the E. coli problem that a formal dog park was not needed.