The dog days of summer may be over at Lambert’s Cove Beach and Uncle Seth’s Pond after West Tisbury voters have their say at next week’s special town meeting.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the West Tisbury School gymnasium, when voters will take up a 10-article warrant that features a number of small transfers and routine budget housekeeping items. But one article is sure to generate debate: a proposal to prohibit dogs and horses on Lambert’s Cove Beach and at Seth’s Pond between June 15 and Sept. 15.
The issue has been a thorny one for years for the town, which has tried to balance the concerns of beachgoers and dog lovers. Along the way the beach has earned the unflattering nickname “dog poop beach” and parks and recreation administrator Peggy Stone said the town is out of options.
“We’ve had so many complaints and so many problems and we’ve been dealing with the same issues for years and years and years and nothing seems to be changing and it’s only getting worse,” she said. “We’re just thinking the easiest way to remedy it is if we have no dogs at all during the season.”
The town has tried providing beach-goers with plastic bags to clean up after their pets and a volunteer corps of West Tisbury residents pledged to monitor the beach during off-hours this past year. But it was mostly to no effect.
“With the dog bags people will put the dog waste in the bag but still leave the bags on the path, or hang them in the trees, or put them in the woods,” said Ms. Stone. “People don’t leash their dogs all the way to the beach. We’ve had so many more complaints from people being bothered, being offended, being jumped on, having dogs running through their picnic suppers, scaring their kids, whatever the case may be.”
The town tried requiring dog permits this summer that allowed residents to bring their dogs to the beach after hours, provided that owners sign a pledge to clean up after their pets. But, Ms. Stone said, she learned that approach opened the town to legal liability.
“We understand that it may be punishing many for the fouls of few but we don’t see an alternative,” she said. “I’m a dog lover myself, I have a golden retriever that loves to go to the beach, but for three months out of the year he’s not going to, unfortunately.”
The same article also bans the use of shampoo, soap and detergent in Seth’s Pond and prohibits swimming between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. from June 15 to Sept. 15.
Other articles on the warrant include an offer to accept the gift of the Mill Pond dam from the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club. The town has insured the dam for years and takes on no new liability with the gift but has asked for an additional $7,000 to manage, maintain and possibly reconstruct the dam.
Voters will also be asked to raise $10,000 to evaluate a contract for the financing, construction and maintenance of a solar panel project at the town landfill that will provide power to town buildings. Another article asks for $1,000 for maintenance of the Greenlands and to purchase “No ATV” signs for installation in the conservation area.
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