Now it's official. After trying to win support for a dog beach, the town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea has scrapped the idea after residents voted against it in a straw poll last month.
The Town Commission was divided on the issue and decided to put the question to residents in the August/September edition of the newsletter Town Topics. The result: 173 residents voted against the proposal and 66 voted in favor.
In recent weeks, residents placed numerous calls to commissioners citing sanitation and health concerns as the reasons for opposing the dog beach.
Commissioner Stuart Dodd, one of the main supporters of the idea, said he is disappointed it will not come to fruition.
Commissioners initially voted in favor of a dog beach trial period during the proposal's first reading July 8. After numerous residents raised health concerns, commissioners shot down the proposal by a 4-1 vote during a second reading at a July 22 meeting. It was then decided to conduct the straw poll.
Dodd said the idea was turned down because the trial period allowed dogs on the main stretch of the beach, at El Prado Park on El Mar Drive. He wanted to have the dog beach on the southernmost tip of the city, by the Palm Avenue beach portal and Fountainhead condo building.
"No one wants it in their backyard," he said. "If we were to put it in front of Fort Lauderdale, we would have had the support."
Commissioner Birute Ann Clottey disagreed, saying the objections would have been the same at the southern part of the beach.
"If most of the people in town are against it, I don't see why [we should] push for something they don't want," she said.
Mayor Roseann Minnet was also against the dog beach.
"People can't even pick up their own garbage, why are they going to pick up after their dogs?" she said. "That's why I was against it, not because I don't like dogs but because of health issues."
Respondents to the straw poll had to submit their full names so that city officials could verify their resident status. About 17 votes were disregarded because they did not come from city residents.
Dog owners can still go to one of the nearby dog-friendly beaches, including the 100-yard stretch between Custer and Pershing streets in Hollywood and the 100-yard stretch between Sunrise Boulevard and Lifeguard Station 5 in Fort Lauderdale.
Despite the poll results, Dodd said he was pleased with the number of respondents.
"It was the first time the town has as gone out to the residents with a question of any kind," he said. "It's a means by which we can ask and they can respond."
source: Sun Sentinal
Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Blog & Homes for Sale
Posts
