Dogs on the Beach

Last November, a special was held in West Tisbury to discuss, among other items, the bringing of dogs to .  

At that time, dog owners were allowed to bring their dogs to the beach before 10 am and after 6:30 pm during the summer season. They were allowed to bring them to the beach anytime of the day during the off-season.

At issue were things like the smell of feces and urine, especially on the path leading to the beach and plastic bags filled with feces dumped randomly including bags hanging of bushes and trees, the overflowing containers for the bags and the lack of adequate policing as reasons for their support. Some said that they no longer came to the beach because of the smell and health hazard

On the other side, the dog owners spoke of the pleasure of bringing their dogs to the beach. All claimed to be good citizens, who declared that they cleaned up after their dogs.

At the time, several amendments to the article were offered, but all were defeated. Some suggestions were to increase the fee for the use of the beach; another was to impose a fee to bring a dog to the beach. In the end, West Tisbury voters voted to keep dogs off Lambert’s Cove Beach and between June 15 and Sept. 15 and made violators subject to a $50 fine.

A total of 141 voters attended the meeting and the final vote for the article was 64 for and 61 against.

Among those 61 against are members of what is now called “Friends of Lamberts Cove Beach.” This group has been working since November to come up with a solution so that they can bring their beloved animals to the beach and not offend their neighbors.

Tonight the Friends of Lamberts Cove Beach are holding a forum at the in West Tisbury where they hope voters from both sides of the issue will come to some form of agreement before the Annual Town Meeting next month where the issue is back on the warrant. Pat Gregory, the West Tisbury town moderator, will moderate the forum.

“Since we only lost by three votes, we thought that maybe there was a way to find something that worked for everyone,” said group member Lesley Eaton.

According to Eaton, many people rent homes in West Tisbury in the summer because they are able to take their dogs to the beach, as it was one of the few towns that still allowed dogs at any time.

Some of the solutions the group is looking into are the use of an alternate path for dog owners.

“There is another path to the beach, on the other side of parking lot – way over to right,” said Eaton. “Sherriff’s Meadow has an easement over it and they have no problem with us using that path. One thing dogs do when they get out of car is pee everywhere, if we use that path, that would help to relieve the smell of urine going down main path.”

Other ideas include a well-stocked doggy bag container and a specified trash can for dog waste. Furthermore, the group hopes that if they are also able to serve as volunteers to enforce the use of the path, bags and garbage can – as well as keep track of unruly dogs, they will be able to sway their neighbors.

The will be held tonight at the Howes House in West Tisbury at 7 pm.