NEW SHARON – Noisy canines beware: The town may not tolerate you for much longer.
New Sharon will hold a special town meeting tonight to vote on an ordinance that would regulate barking dogs. The meeting will starts at 7 p.m. at the New Sharon Congregational Church on Cape Cod Hill Road.
The proposed regulation came about when Frank Underkuffler, the town’s attorney, looked into the existing dog ordinances to find a possible solution to an incident that arose last year. According to Selectman Russell Gardner, Underkuffler discovered that the existing ordinance was too outdated to be enforceable in court.
A new dog ordinance was submitted to the voters at the March town meeting for approval. The majority of people at the meeting refused to approve the ordinance, due to a segment regarding dogs-at-large. At the meeting, the town agreed to hold a special town meeting in June, where a committee would present a new ordinance.
Gardner took out an advertisement in the local paper to ask for volunteers to form the committee, which found that the subject of dogs-at-large was already covered by a state statute, and therefore could be left out of any new regulations created by the town.
The proposed ordinance, which is based on similar ordinances throughout the state, deals only with the subject of barking dogs. To be considered a “barking dog” an animal would need to have been barking, or otherwise making noise heard beyond the dog owner’s property limits, for three hours intermittently, or one hour constantly. The ordinance lays out a system of warnings and fines, which could reach as high as $250 or more.
Wayne Atwood, who serves as New Sharon’s animal control officer, would enforce the ordinance.
Gardner encourages anyone interested in the ordinance to attend tonight’s meeting.
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