Monday night’s RTM meeting featured a proposal to extend dog season at the beach.
It was initiated by GHS senior Violet Webby, and made it onto the call after her petition was signed by 20 electors.
While Tod’s Point in Old Greenwich is the popular destination for dog owners, the proposal impact all town beaches.
Miss Webby’s petition said her dog Finchley was a member of the family who enjoyed taking walks at the park.
Initially she proposed changing the season (currently it runs 4 months from December 1 to March 31) to an Oct 1 start, but she offered a substitute resolution with a November 15 start.
The explanatory comments for Miss Webby’s item said an extension of the dog season would not impact the nesting period of birds at Tod’s Point, but later in the meeting, Ryan MacLean, who is Senior Coordinator, Public Programs of the Greenwich Audubon Center, described a more complex issue.
Committees that considered the initial resolution for an Oct 1 start included Parks & Rec, Health & Human Services, Legislative & Rules and Budget Overview Committee.
Alison Soler, chair of the Health & Human Services Committee, said Parks & Rec director Joe Siciliano and Sue Baker, who is on both the Conservation Commission and Shellfish commission, as well as Beth Evans and Sarah Coccaro, director and assistant director of Dept of Environmental Affairs respectively, all addressed her committee.
“The Conservation concerns – dogs pose a health and safety issue in areas mapped by Connecticut DEEP as sensitive natural areas for migratory birds’ resting and nesting sites. Dogs introduce parasites, urine contributes nitrogen harmful to ground and surface water – so it’s not just that the poop – you can’t pick up urine,” Soler said.
“Many protected species are present at Tod’s Point. The balance of protection is maintained by seasonal restriction of dogs. Migratory birds remain until December in warm years. October and November are critical months. Thousands of birds use the area. There is no specific date that is clear for migration.”
Dogs off leash below high tide line at Tod’s Point in December. File photo
Soler said her committee members were concerned there was little or no park supervision for enforcement, and animal control has only 3 staff with one assigned to the kennels.
Further, that without stronger enforcement of rules, the bad behavior was an issue including people not picking up after dogs and letting their dogs off leash. Soler noted the Conservation staff pointed out that other towns’ parks where dogs are allowed were not coastal parks with multiple habitats.
For example, Stamford’s conservation zone prohibits dogs entirely.
Soler said her committee would be willing to consider an amendment allowing for “wiggle room” in the form of a five-day extension to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving when families are home for the holiday.
Kip Burgweger from L&R said Joe Siciliano visited his committee and shared concerns including that relevant departments and boards had not had the opportunity to give input, that many dogs at the beach would not be licensed, and that lengthening the season would add an expense for the town, not including costs born by the police.
James Waters, chair of the Budget Overview Committee, said they heard from Joe Siciliano, Sue Baker and deputy police chief Mark Zuccerella at their meeting where they focused on enforcement and its associated costs.
“We did hear that the change with an October start the estimate was an additional $18,000 in operating costs and we heard from the police department about enforcement of the leash laws that 5 new officers would be needed to properly staff the animal control to conduct the required shifts without overtime.”
Ms Webby said the substitute resolution to extend to Nov 15 took instead of Oct 1 took into consideration the feedback from various committees.
“By extending the dog season for just two weeks, we’re giving dog owners the opportunity to use the park in the fall while the sun is still warm, it’s quieter, less crowded and it’s still not impacting peak months when the park is busiest,” Webby said.
“Importantly, this extension is timed for when the majority of the migratory birds have already passed through,” she added.
Siciliano shared attendance figures for the month of October 2024 at Greenwich Point Park:
47,000 people
109 dogs turned away
1900 guests
“This resolution should have started with some of the boards that the RTM appoints, like the board of Parks & Rec and the Board of Health,” Siciliano said.
Siciliano said 3,000 dog licenses were issued in Greenwich, though there is an estimated 7,500 dogs in Greenwich.
He said he had offered to work with Miss Webby and had a positive exchange with her.
Beth Evans said Greenwich Point Park was designated by the National Audubon as an important bird area for migrating birds of all types.
“It also is a known habitat for wintering species, including two state recognized owl species – the Long-Eared Owl and the Northern Saw-Whet – there are exceptional concentrations of birds during migration, and October and November can be very warm or not,” Evans said.
“Although the current extension until November 15 seems modest – two weeks – in fact many of the birds that use in the lower part of Long Island Sound as resting and feeding areas are young birds, the birds of the year, the ones that were born during the nesting,” Evans said.
“Respectfully I would suggest that the proposal (to start) the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, 5 days, is perhaps a more reasonable solution.”
Ryan MacLean, from Greenwich Audubon Center, asked the RTM not to extend dog access on Greenwich’s beaches at all, in order to protect them as habitats for the birds that rely on them.
MacLean said Greenwich’s beaches were a vital stop-over site for migratory shore birds, song birds and many other species.
“Imagine this: a tiny Sandpiper that was born near the Arctic Tundra has to migrate to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Every beach they can land on undisturbed serves as an essential stop for the food and rest needed to survive, especially as warmer climates extend their migration period to the later months of the year, such as November and December.”
“Migratory and wintering songbirds like Warblers and Sparrows who arrive in November also heavily rely on the edges of these beaches after flying all night and are seeking safe cover to rest and feed,” he added. “This is what we want to protect.”
“Sadly, even leashed dogs can disturb feeding and resting birds, forcing them to expend energy they cannot afford to lose,” MacLean said. “This is not a hypothetical concern; this is something we observe every year.”
In a broader context, MacLean said North America had lost 3 billion birds since 1970 and Audubon was working to “bend the bird curve” to reverse the decline.
Sue Baker said the Shellfish Commission was a state mandated commission charged with water quality testing.
She said many residents are familiar with the term high coliform (fecal bacteria) counts, and in the summer beaches are sometimes closed after weather events due to high coliform counts.
Baker said in addition to Greenwich’s recreational shellfish beds there are 55 acres of commercial shellfishing beds immediately sub-tidal ( just below the lowest tide line) all along the shoreline.
She noted the recreational beds are open from November until the latter part of April, and that the opening is based on the number of boats in the water, which she said indicates the presence of fecal matter and therefore a coliform count.
“At any time, dogs along the shoreline increase the coliform count,” Baker said. “The way it reads now is ‘beaches’ but they don’t stay on the beach; they’re all over the Point, no one can enforce that.”
As for Byram Beach, which would also be subject to the change in dog season, Baker said that beach already “takes a huge hit” with a high coliform count in part because it doesn’t get the flushing tides the other beaches do.
“The Shellfish Commission takes a horrible hit for water quality when there are boats open and dogs on the beach,” she added.
Noting there had been previous proposals to extend dog season at the beach in Greenwich, Baker asked if it might be time for a town-wide referendum.
Back in 2015, a resident launched a petition asking for an extension of dog season at the beach. She had a goal of 500 signatures, but was able to collect over 700 signatures within 24 hours. The Parks & Recreation board held a public hearing on the proposal. Then board chair Nancy Caplan said the Audubon was concerned about the bird population, and that the Health Dept was opposed to the extension based on dogs defecating on the beach and dog bites in general. After discussion, the board voted 7-2 against the proposal to extend the dog season by two weeks on each end.
She suggested that for every family with a dog, there was a family that doesn’t want the dogs at the beach.
Police Chief Heavey said there had been 37 reported dog bites in Greenwich last year.
“That’s 37 too many,” he said.
He added that the limited animal control staff spend time trying to match dogs in their care with homes rather than euthanize them and they care for long term stays in the shelter.
“It’s difficult for us to do all the enforcement with the current staff and we get plenty of complaints about dogs bothering people who don’t want dogs down there,” he said.
“The increase in times would also increase the number of non-residents who often don’t know what our rules are or don’t have the same understanding of the importance of Greenwich Point,” Heavey warned.
The RTM did not take a vote.
The item fell under the second read rule and the RTM will take it up at their next meeting.