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4-22-2024 12:07am
Westwood Select Board Investigates Establishing Off-Leash Dog Area in Town
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Westwood Select Board unanimously voted last week to establish a working group to identify areas of town-owned land that would be suitable for a natural, off-leash area or a contained dog park. Applications from residents interested in serving on the group are being accepted through May 1, 2024.
The working group was proposed by Select Board Chair Marianne LeBlanc Cummings, in response to resident requests for such an area. She outlined a group that would include Select Board member Joe Previtera, a member of the Conservation Committee, a member of Planning Board, and three community representatives, along with ex-officio members to be one member from each of the following town departments: Police, Public Works, and Community and Economic Development.
Applicants are invited to email bos@townhall.westwood.ma.us
or selectboard@townhall.westwood.ma.us
with the applicant’s reasons for being interested in participating in the working group. A list of applicants will be compiled for the board to make a decision, said Town Administrator Christopher Coleman, who recommended the process for the board to select working group members.
Select Board Clerk Robert Gotti noted his hope that the working group would not only be able to identify a parcel of land appropriate for off-leash dogs or a dog park, but also identify the costs of making the parcel ready for use. He mentioned parking for vehicles as one consideration.
Westwood Minute notes that Westwood's bylaws provide a laundry list of public spaces where dogs are required to leashed, from parks to playgrounds, schools, fields and facilities. It would appear that under the bylaws, conservation land and sidewalks may be the only public spaces not listed and therefore the only places where unleashed dog may be allowed in Westwood . . . so long as the dog is accompanied by a person who has the dog under control.
However, Westwood Conservation Commission (Con Comm) has established new rules on conservation lands targeting dog-walkers and commercial dog-walkers. The screenshot below, taken from the Town of Westwood website and Conservation & Stormwater Management Division page, sets forth the new rules, including that all dogs must be leashed and under control at all times.
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Source: Town of Westwood website, Conservation & Stormwater Management Division page (New Dog Walking Rules in Conservation Lands).In response to Con Comm’s new rules, and fearing the development of a law banning off-leash dogs in Westwood, resident Andy Moore started a petition on January 4th this year on Change.org which has gained over 600 signatures by the time of this article’s posting. In the petition titled, “Oppose Lowell Woods Dog Walking Rule Change,” Mr. Moore described Lowell Woods as “the only publicly owned land in Westwood where dog owners were allowed to walk their dogs off leash.” He opined that the new rules are unreasonable for imposing blanket requirements while being based on a handful of complaints. He also complained that under Con Comm's new rules, professional dog walkers, hired by Westwood residents, must now take residents’ dogs to another town for exercise.
In Westwood Minute’s review of its weekly Police Log article series that describes selected (not comprehensive) incidents requesting a police response, it appears that Westwood Police occasionally receive complaints regarding off-leash dogs and their walkers in Lowell Woods. Complaints have included walkers having as many as ten dogs off-leash, dog walkers’ inability to control their charges, and allegedly disrespectful behavior by dog walkers when confronted.
Similar concerns of balancing the interests of complainants and dog owners have also bubbled up in Walpole and Medfield.
Community members in Walpole have debated whether to implement a dog ban at Adams Farm where the leash rule has not always been observed. A wait-and-see period was implemented while interested citizens publicized the property's leash requirement. Currently, on-leash dogs still appear to be allowed at Adams Farm.
This May 6th, Medfield resident voters will decide whether to pass Article 29, which expands the town's leash law, at the upcoming Medfield Town Meeting. Article 29 would revise the town's bylaw to require that all dogs be leashed in public areas except when in designated off-leash areas. Additionally, dogs in off-leash areas would have to be "effectively under voice control of the animal's owner or walker" and within the person's field of vision at all times.
In contrast, Medfield's current bylaws are less strict. They currently allow a dog to be off-leash in public places when effectively restrained by a chain, or leash, or attended by a person who is able to control the dog's actions. (See Town of Medfield Bylaws, Section 110-5 Restraint of dogs)
