The South Portland City Council seems divided on whether to impose temporary measures this summer to limit early morning dog walking on Willard Beach.

While some councilors want to let a task force first review complaints by waterfront neighbors, other say immediate action needs to be taken.

“I wouldn’t want 40 dogs running around my house,” said Councilor Maxine Beecher, who argues that the city should make changes to restrict pet access during the busy summer season, when the beach is used most by the public.

But Councilor Tom Blake cautioned that councilors should let the proposed task force do its work, even though it may not issue findings until the end of summer.

“We need to stay the course and get this task force going to fix problems the best we can,” he said. “Overreacting and rushing to change the rules without enough information doesn’t solve the problem. It could make things worse.”

At issue is the heated dispute between some waterfront neighbors and pet owners who walk their dogs on the public beach, off Willow Street.

Beach Street neighbors Dan LaBrie and Devon Gray argue that increasing numbers of dogs on the beach are a public nuisance and pose heath and safety risks.

LaBrie would like to see dogs off the beach during the summer. He says that dogs awaken him and his wife, and that out-of-town guests refuse to spend the night at their new waterfront home because of noise and disruption.

Gray has repeatedly come before the City Council to ask for tighter restrictions on the hours off-season that pet owners can walk dogs on the beach. She says she worries that dogs will knock over her grandchildren.

City rules let pets run off leash at Willard Beach from May 1-Sept. 30, from 6-9 a.m. Pets are allowed on the beach all day from late fall through the winter.

Dog walkers – led by the South Portland Dog Owners Group – argue that the complaints are exaggerated. They say owners are mindful of city rules to keep their pets under control, and that they clean up after the animals.

Mayor Jim Soule, who proposed forming the task force, said its job will be to review problems, gather information and recommend solutions.

Soule said Councilors Claude Morgan and Jim Hughes will co-chair the special sub-committee that will look at balancing uses at South Portland’s most popular beach, which has a playground, concession stand, boat moorings and year-round access for dogs.

The task force will be composed of Willard Beach residents, dog walkers, councilors and city staff.

“We want to bring the stakeholders together and come up with viable solutions,” Soule said. “The sub-committee needs to work through the process, so there is not any knee-jerk reaction to what is going on down there.”

Members of the task force – which has yet to be set up – may include residents who have spoken publicly for or against pet access to Willard Beach.

On May 5, dog owners – numbering 150 to 200 – packed a City Council meeting to plead with leaders to keep allowing dogs on Willard Beach. Many residents who spoke at the public hearing wore their dogs’ leashes around their necks.

Beecher said she appreciated the turnout. But, Beecher added, she has heard from many other members of the public since the hearing who are concerned about dogs on Willard Beach.

Beecher said she is worried about health risks from waste and urine on the beach. She suggested that the city conduct bacteria tests on the beach sand.

“I worry about kids putting their hands in their mouths after playing in the sand,” she said. “We need as a council to address this issue in the short term and long term and do what makes sense – whether that is opening a dog park or whatever.”

Councilor Linda Boudreau also argues that immediate action needs to be taken to change summer dog-walking hours in response to neighborhood complaints. Boudreau said she feels it is the City Council’s obligation to find “a short-term solution” while the task force does its work.

Boudreau said she would like to see the current summer dog-walking hours of 6-9 a.m. changed to the same three hours in the evening. Beecher also supports that idea.

Boudreau said restricting dog walking to nighttime hours would let the tide wash urine from the sand overnight.

Barking would be less of a problem in the early evening than it now is in the morning, she said. There also is less of a chance that young children will be on the beach in the evening, and in danger of getting knocked over by a dog.

“We could treat this just like the Old Port, where if you don’t want to be around people drinking at night, then that’s not the time to be there,” Boudreau said. “The same could be said about the dogs at Willard Beach, if we switch the hours.”

Boudreau said she is concerned that tensions are so fraught between some of the dog walkers and a handful of beach residents that the city needs to intervene. There have been angry confrontations between some dog walkers and beachside residents.

One dog walker complained at the public hearing that a beach-side resident struck her dog with a paint chipper he was using on his boat.

But Councilor Jim Hughes said he thinks the solution is to slow down the process, so that everyone has time to deliberate. The debate over dogs at Willard Beach has become so emotional that it is hard at times to get the facts, he said.

Hughes said he needs to have a better understanding of problems before voting on solutions.

“What I want to do is gather enough data of what is going on,” said Hughes, who supports the work of the task force. “I don’t have a good picture of that… I hear there are a hundred dogs on the beach, and then I hear there are no dogs. There must be something in between.”

Councilor Kay Loring was unavailable for comment.

Likewise, Councilor Claude Morgan – who served as president of the South Portland Dog Owners Group (DOG) before being elected to the Council – said Monday night he does not want to comment on whether an immediate change is needed.

Morgan serves District 1, which includes the Willard Beach neighborhood. He attended a meeting about a month ago organized by city staff with a few beach-side residents who had complaints, and continues to gather information from both sides.

The ability of DOG to organize residents was visible at the May 5 hearing. The group activated residents and helped people prepare for their presentations.

Some observers at City Hall are convinced that the group influences elections through its campaign surveys of the candidates. But whether DOG can convince the city not to change pet access at Willard Beach is unclear.

“I’m always encouraging mediation and collaboration,” Boudreau said Monday. “But I think once in a while – whether it’s parents or employers or whomever – a leader needs to step in and decide. In this case, the City Council has an obligation.”