SCARBOROUGH – Dog owners in Scarborough may get a reprieve from a recent rewrite of the town’s animal control ordinance, which prevents dogs from ever being off leash on public property, including sidewalks, athletic fields and wooded areas, as well as beaches.

In an Oct. 2 vote, the Town Council capped off months of debate on how best to protect the piping plover and dodge a $12,000 federal fine issued following the July 15 killing of an endangered chick on Pine Point Beach. The original proposal, requested by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was to require that dogs be leashed at all times when on beaches between April 1 and Aug. 30.

But, in a last-minute amendment authored by Councilor Richard Sullivan and read by Councilor Kate St. Clair, the leash law was upgraded from beaches in the summer to all public lands all year long.

“I felt something had to be done,” said Sullivan, in a subsequent telephone interview, acknowledging that the issue had gone beyond plover protection. “This whole thing with dogs has just been getting out of control.”

At a candidates night event Oct. 10, Councilor Judy Roy, who is up for election and joined Councilor Jessica Holbrook in the 5-2 minority against Sullivan’s amendment, said she was “working diligently” for reconsideration. Only someone who voted for the motion can move for a do-over of the vote and, by Monday, Chairman Ron Ahlquist was saying he was that man.

“I voted on the prevailing side, so I’m going to move for reconsideration,” he said. “I think – I know – we went too far. I didn’t want to restrict people from all over town, where there’s now no place where they can take dogs off a leash.”

Ahlquist said his motion would be to replace the more restrictive ban with the one that was on the table before amendment.

Following that, he said, he hopes to work for the creation of dog parks in town, to give dog owners a place of their own away from the public beaches.

“I think we should have at least four and maybe five dog parks in town,” said Ahlquist. “We have more than 1,000 acres of town-owned land in different places. Let’s find a place where dogs can run free off a leash.”

A citizen’s petition drive was launched the day after the Oct. 2 vote to send the question to referendum, with the intent of overturning the town-wide leash law. On Tuesday, Town Manager Tom Hall said he believes, with backing from the town attorney, that only one course of action would keep that petition drive alive.

In the seemingly unlikely scenario that the council agrees to reconsideration, resetting the clock to just before St. Clair’s motion, then turns around and again adopts the same motion, the petition drive could continue, he said.

“That’s not as far-fetched as it may sound,” said Hall. “I can certainly imagine a case where councilors may support the right of one of their number to call for reconsideration, but then not want to actually change the result of how they voted.”

If the council amends the ordinance in any other way, or even adopts the un-amended version, that would invalidate the petition, which asks voters if they are willing to approve the council vote on Oct. 2, said Hall, adding that he had “a couple of amendments” he hoped to have some councilor introduce to “better comply” with the agreement between the town and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

That agreement also passed 5-2, but neither Ahlquist nor any of the majority councilors have suggested reconsideration of that document.

Members of the grassroots advocacy group Dog Owners of Greater Scarborough had vowed before the Oct. 2 vote to fight even the less restrictive original version, which would have taken away their ability to walk dogs unleashed on municipal beaches from sunrise until 9 a.m. during the summer. A second petition drive, then, is not unlikely.

According to Scarborough’s town charter, petitioners have 20 days in which to collect the requisite number of signatures needed to overturn a council vote. Names must be signed on town-provided petitions by registered Scarborough voters, and at least 25 percent of the turnout at the most recent gubernatorial election, or 2,379 signatures, are needed.

If the signature drive is successful, the town clerk has 10 working days to certify the petitions. If the required number of signatures are validated, the council must schedule a public hearing within 30 days and a public vote must be held within 30 days of the hearing.

However, in a bit of a local twist, the attempt to overturn the council vote can prevail at the polls but still fail if at least 2,379 residents do not turn out to vote, on both sides.

According to Police Chief Robert Moulton, his officers have refrained from enforcing the new leash law while petitioning is under way.

“It is the intention of the town to use discretion in not enforcing the new ordinance during the petition period,” read a notice posted on the department’s Facebook page. “This decision is based on a desire to respect the spirit of the citizen’s initiative process. Should the petitioners be successful in collecting the requisite number of valid signatures and a special election is scheduled, discretion in enforcement will continue until the question is decided by a vote of the majority of the voters. In the meantime, the regulations in place prior to the vote of Oct. 2, 2013, will be enforced.”

The same notice was posted on the town’s website and as a preamble to the new ordinance adopted by the Town Council.

The previous rules, in places since 2004, allowed dogs to be off leash on municipal beaches from sunrise to 9 a.m. between April 15 and Sept. 15. During those months, they were not allowed on beaches at all between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and could be present only on a leash from 5 p.m. until sunset. There were no restrictions during the remaining six months of the year.

The move to change that began soon after July 15, when a dog owned by a King Street resident killed a piping plover chick. The mauling occurred at about 7 a.m. on Pine Point Beach, at a time when the dog was allowed to run free. The chick was the only surviving hatchling of the only plover pair seen at Pine Point this past summer.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service launched an investigation, which it refused to acknowledge until Sept. 11, and Andrew Tittler, acting assistant regional solicitor for the U.S. Department of the Interior, sent the town a notice of violation of the Endangered Species Act. The notice, which included a $12,000 fine, said Scarborough “did knowingly cause” the chick’s demise because its rules limiting dog access to beaches were not stringent enough.

Tittler noted that officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked Scarborough to strengthen its leash law three times between May 2001 and April 2004. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife made its own attempt, sending a letter and dispatching an endangered species biologist to address the council in May 2004. State officials tried again to open a dialogue on the issue on July 10, just five days before its fears were realized, wrote Tittler.

However, Councilor Judy Roy pointed out during Wednesday’s meeting that Fish and Wildlife signed off on the town’s beach management plan in July 2012, under the previous leash law.

In a deal brokered with the feds, Scarborough agreed to require dogs be leashed at all times on public beaches between April 1 and Aug. 31, with leads to be no longer than 8 feet. The town also agreed to create the 20-hour per week position of “piping plover coordinator” to oversee a host of new public education and enforcement policies. In return, the town’s fine was lowered from $12,000 to $500.

A CLOSER LOOK

Wednesday’s Scarborough Town Council meeting took place after deadline for this week’s print edition of the Current. Look for coverage online at www.keepmecurrent.com.