The conditions at Hinckley Park have prompted city staff to recommend infrastructure improvements. On Aug. 3, Karl Coughlin, director of South Portland Parks, Recreation and Waterfront, presented some examples of the quality of bridges and trails to the city council as well as recommendations on how improvements could be made. Courtesy image
SOUTH PORTLAND — Leash laws are in effect for dogs at Hinckley Park until Sept. 30, but the South Portland City Council may pursue permanent guidelines and laws for off-leash dogs.
During the Aug. 3 city council workshop regarding Hinckley Park, Karl Coughlin, director of Parks, Recreation and Waterfront, said that city staff were recommending changes to the park’s off-leash policy as well as a city investment in infrastructure maintenance due to erosion, invasive plants and dog behaviors.
Recommendations consisted of allowing off-leash dogs at the park starting Oct. 1, but regulating dogs to stay on trails or in open fields, Coughlin said. Staff recommended dogs enter the water at Hinckley Park at proposed entry points, and that the city should create an ordinance that limits off-leashed dogs to two per owner as well as language for sight control.
Neighboring municipalities like Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth have existing ordinances requiring that dogs are leashed should an owner have more than two, and these guidelines have been successful, Coughlin said.
Parks, Recreation and Waterfront is working on reorganizing the department to create a fulltime conservation manager position from existing staff, Coughlin said.
“We feel that this is really a happy medium that will allow dogs and dog owners to enjoy the park off-leashed while also allowing the environment to heal,” he said.
Coughlin said the city should prepare for financing substantial improvements to Hinckley Park. After a park analysis that took place over this spring and summer, staff found unsafe bridges and stairs, pathways widening, invasive vegetation killing trees and other plants and also growing over trails, erosion and water quality issues.
Staff completed an analysis to see if a dog park could be feasible at any current South Portland park or greenspace, but after evaluating about 40 city-owned parcels, did not see a good match, Coughlin said. Any dog park could come with a substantial cost to the city, $100,000 or more.
Councilors discussed mandating leash requirements, where an owner would need to leash more than two dogs at a time, on all city properties as well as applying other proposed restrictions to every park in South Portland, including Willard Beach.
A recommendation was made that the city council form a new ad hoc committee that could advise councilors on forming a dog park, but the council was split on this recommendation 3-3, and City Manager Scott Morelli said that a tied vote is the same as a rejection.
“Unless we get some different guidance, people change their mind or whatever, we would come back to you with ordinance changes that would let the leash requirement expire but implement those four new restrictions and then we would also apply that to other parcels but also understanding there may not be trails at Willard Beach where dogs would be restricted to so there might not be that same language for every park, but the general principles would apply,” Morelli said.
City Clerk Emily Scully presented the idea of creating an unleashed dog license that could mirror other municipalities, but councilors agreed not to pursue this option until after a first round of changes.
The council voted to put the issue onto a future agenda, where councilors will vote on and further discuss the recommendations.
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