SCARBOROUGH – Fallout from the July 15 mauling of an endangered piping plover chick at Pine Point Beach continued Wednesday when the Scarborough Ordinance Committee agreed to recommend the adoption of further restrictions on dogs at public beaches.

Following more than an hour of public comment, the three-member committee scheduled a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 8, at town hall, when changes to the to town’s beach and plover protection ordinances will be voted on and forwarded to the full council.

“I feel 100 percent there has to be a change,” said Councilor Kate St. Clair. “This can not continue. I don’t want to hear any more complaints about people being attacked because dogs were not on leashes, I don’t want to hear any more reports of endangered animals being killed because a dog was not on a leash.”

What the amendments will look like was unclear. The committee agreed only that it will stop short of banning dogs from public beaches altogether.

In Scarborough, from June 15 to Sept. 15, dogs can roam free “under voice control” on municipal beaches from sunrise to 9 a.m., and on a leash from 5 p.m. to sunset. Dogs are not allowed on the beach during the summer months between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Committee Chairman Richard Sullivan cautioned that the Aug. 8 session is to be a working meeting, at which he will not allow public comment. The next opportunity for the public to weigh in, he said, will come at the regular Town Council meeting on Aug. 21, when the committee recommendation is considered at a “first reading.”

Barring unusual action by the council, a public hearing, second reading and final vote would then be set on the ordinance update for Sept. 4.

Meanwhile, an investigation into the plover death is under way by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Although law enforcement agents with the federal agency have refused to confirm as much, or even to acknowledge being in town, Town Manager Tom Hall said he has turned over minutes and video from council meetings in 2004, the last time a rules governing dogs on public beaches were debated.

Hall said he asked for an expedited decision and was told a decision on whether to proceed against the town with criminal and or civil penalties “will come sooner rather than later.” Fines could be set, he said, at $25,000.

“The federal government is pretty much mandating that something be done,” said Sullivan. “If it [a plover death] happens again, it’s going to be even worse for the town.”

Of 44 people in the audience, 14 addressed the committee, including a couple of seasonal visitors and a few from out of town who make a daily trek to Scarborough beaches to walk their dogs.

Only one speaker, Robinson Road resident Sarah Lathorp, expressed support for a total ban on dogs on public beaches.

“I typically find at Higgins and Ferry Beach that at least one-third to half the dogs are off the leash and given summer evening,” she said. “That’s not OK with me. I would love to see the law enforced I’ve never seen anyone enforcing the leash law down on the beaches or I’d like to see dogs banned altogether during the summer months, like they are at Scarborough Beach [State Park].”

While all speakers called the plover death “a tragedy,” and a few said they could support a leash requirement during nesting season, most keyed off Lathrop’s comment about enforcement.

“The town has ordinances. Why aren’t they being enforced? That’s what I don’t understand,” said Robert Rovner, of King Street, who drew applause despite Sullivan’s admonishment to the crowd.

“You’re putting us in a position to have to defend ourselves,” said Rovner. “We don’t have to defend ourselves. There’s nobody here who doesn’t care about the beach, who doesn’t care about the plovers. You’re putting this responsibility on us. You want to take away our joy and why we come here. You are putting us on the spot. We don’t deserve to be there. You do.”

Rovner stumped for adding animal control patrols during nesting season, and for increasing fines for violators. But, like most who spoke, he did not want to see Scarborough take away the ability people now have to run their dogs off leash until 9 a.m.

“I specifically moved to Higgins Beach because of the dogs on the beach aspect,” said Sandy Secamp, of Oceanwood Drive. “It’s one of the few places I’ve been, and I’ve lived all over this country, where dogs and their owners really have a great place to go on the oceanfront.”

“I would be reluctant to stay in Higgins if we could not walk our dog, if dogs were banned,” agreed Robin McCarthy, of Shipwreck Road, a full-time resident of Higgins Beach for about one year. “It’s sometimes a dog party down there, which is fun. I vote to share the beach.”

James Solley, a daily visitor from Falmouth, and Susan Gray, a longtime vacationer to the area from New Hampshire, both stressed the positive economic impact of allowing dogs to run free on Scarborough beaches, at least in the early morning hours.

“It’s a half and hour each way for us,” said Solley. “We end up shopping here as a result of that. We end up going to restaurants here because of that.

“Most of us who walk dogs are very responsible,” said Solley. “Don’t let the actions of one person change what is the flavor of a great beach and a great situation.”

“I have vacationed in many places and this is the best place in the world,” said Gray. “This is my favorite place. It’s where my family choses to come and the dog aspect is huge. As someone who spends a lot of money here, we think you’ve created a great community.”

Far from dog walkers creating scenes of anarchy by allowing their pets to run madcap up and down the beach, Gray said she has discovered a “very responsible community.”

“I didn’t even know what a piping plover was,” she said. “It was the dog walkers who educated me.”

Traczie Bellinger, a resident of South Portland, who works as a seasonal biologist with Maine Audubon, corrected a few inaccuracies that have crept into conventional wisdom about the plover death. The initial press release from the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife service about the plover killing referenced what time the dead bird was taken to the local Audubon office, leading many to believe it was killed at a time of day when dogs were not allowed on the beach at all. The killing actually occurred at 7 a.m., she said, when dogs could run free.

Also, she said, the most recent count puts 45 nesting pairs of plovers in Maine, up from 42 last year but not the 47 that has been widely reported. Four of the plover pairs were spotted in Scarborough, she said.

Bellinger responded to complaints that the fencing used to mark plover areas are insufficient to keep dogs at bay. The snow fencing is only designed to be a visual aid, she said, because plover chicks do not stay in their nesting area.

“It takes about a month for the eggs to hatch and, once they hatch, the chicks are up and running around,” said Bellinger. “Within a few hours of being born they are actually feeding themselves at the water’s edge. They rarely go back to the original nesting area. So, they are mobile, they don’t stay in the ‘stick-and-twine’ area.

“Most dog owners I see on the beach are pretty respectful, but at every single beach we go to, even sometimes in the state parks, we do find dog tracks in the stick and twine,” said Bellinger. ”There are people out there not minding their dogs.

“So, dogs can be a stresser, though they won’t necessarily be the cause of death,” said Bellinger. “That’s why this is such a big deal, because we know what happened to that bird.”

Scarborough town councilors, from left, Jim Benedict and Richard Sullivan look on as Town Manager Tom Hall debates a point with dog owners Robert Rovner, of Pine Point, and James Solley, of Falmouth, following a July 31 ordinance committee meeting.