NEWPORT BEACH : Easing Dog Ban at Beach Is Likely

Ashley Liotta, 8, and her 7-year-old cousin, Kyle Worel, think it unfair that some pets can go to the beach during the summer but theirs can’t. So they went to the City Council to protest an ordinance that restricts when dogs can frolic on the sand.

“One day I saw a cat on someone’s shoulder. Another day we saw a snake around someone’s neck,” Ashley told council members Monday. “We are responsible pet owners all year round, and we know others can be the same.”

Ashley’s comments drew cheers from two dozen other dog owners, enough to persuade the council to give preliminary approval to amend the current statute, which bans dogs on the beach entirely from June 15 to Sept. 15 and between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. the rest of the year.

The city’s Marine Safety and Animal Control departments had resisted easing the summer restriction to match the winter hours, arguing that keeping the beaches clean is already difficult.

Some residents raised the same issue. Runner Charles D. Larson, a 15-year resident of Lido Isle, said runners, skaters, bikers and walkers will pay the toll for those who don’t clean up after their pets.

“I never understood why there was so much poop in the winter until I found out about this ordinance,” Larson, 32, said at the council meeting while waving a running shoe, albeit an unsoiled one, to make his point.

Regardless, council members said they will probably approve the revision at their Sept. 11 meeting.

Lifting the ban was the talk of the beach Tuesday, and sentiment was decidedly mixed.

Longtime resident Dan Wiener, 56, who spent years avoiding the beach dogcatcher by walking his Labrador-Doberman mix before 7 a.m., said easing the ban was long overdue and is not likely to cause litter problems.

Dog droppings, he said, are “always a concern of anybody who owns property around here. I always took a pooper-scooper with me.”

Irene Smelt, 35, a self-described “beach bum” from Garden Grove, said her Doberman and dachshund will be taking advantage when the ban is lifted.

“They love the beach. They love running near the water. I just hope everybody picks up after themselves. One person can spoil it for everybody.”

One parent, however, said litter is not her main concern.

“I think it’s good not to have dogs on the beach,” said Sherlyn Dunn, 35, of Alta Loma as she watched her two young children playing by the Newport pier. “You have a lot of kids out here, and you can’t predict whether the dog will bite them.”