Put that dog on a leash BC tightens “at-large” law

The most important part of what happens in a city council meeting is not always the vote. Sometimes it is something that seems minor at the time. This week, as the council finally voted unanimously to tighten up Boulder City’s notoriously lax leash law, the important part came long before any discussion about the actual law.

“Staff would like to request that item 9 be considered after item 12,” City Clerk Tami McKay said just before the council held the “happens every meeting” vote to approve the agenda. And that change may have made all the difference.

Item 9 on the agenda was a staff presentation and council discussion about possible additional locations for “dog recreation.” Item 12 was the actual vote on a previously introduced bill to change the language of city code when it comes to at-large animals.

Boulder City already has two fenced dog parks. See Spot Run is on the grounds of Veterans Memorial Park on land provided by the city and is managed by a local 501-3(c) non-profit group. Last year, a second dog park, this one with grass and lights, opened to great fanfare, also in Veterans Memorial.

The location of the two existing parks has been a talking point for those who have advocated not changing the Boulder City law. Opponents of changing the law (with support from some vocal members of the council) have claimed that, in a town where you can drive from the northeast corner out by the lake to the southwest corner near the airport in 10 minutes on most days, Veterans Memorial was too far away and too inconvenient.

Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Sherri Jorgensen, who has now voted four times on this issue since first joining the council in 2020 said that this vote was not about a leash law. “We have a leash law,” she insisted.

And she is not wrong. However, for more than three decades, there has been an huge exception to the law. An exception that both the police chief and the former animal control supervisor told the council back in 2020 made the law unenforceable.

The current law (the changes voted on this week are set to go into effect in early December) says that dogs have to be on a leash in public. Unless, that is, they are under “the direct supervision and control of an owner or trainer who is giving auditory and/or visual commands to such animal; provided, that the animal is obeying such commands.”

Residents clamoring for a change to the law largely advocated removing that exception, which is what the police chief and animal control supervisor told the council almost five years ago. That is not what the council did.

Instead, they added to the existing law. So the exception remains, but now it only applies, “in an area designated by resolution of City Council as an off-leash area.”

And this is where the whole switcheroo becomes important.

In past discussions on this matter, the council has gotten bogged down when trying to come up with areas where residents would be able to walk their dogs off-leash. As recently as June of this year, a vote to tighten up the law failed when council members could not agree on additional places and/or times for off-leash dog activity.

Had the agenda gone down as originally written, that may have been the outcome again this week. But, by switching the order, the council had voted themselves into a corner. Now, they had to make a straight up or down vote on changing the law. Only after that had happened, would they be able to hear a staff presentation about additional off-leash options and vote on a resolution making those official.

“I guess I wish I realized that nine was after 12 because I’d really like to have that discussion first,” Jorgensen said. “I have heard it said that this represents what was brought forward years ago. I was there at that time, so I do know what that looked like. This does look a little bit different after we discuss options, but when we don’t discuss options, it doesn’t look different.”

“I think I’m with Sherri,” Said Councilwoman Cokie Booth. “I would have preferred to do the other one first. So that I knew and I know what’s happening. So I don’t know if there’s a way we can. Can do that? Could we talk about it first?”

After City Attorney Brittany Walker pointed out that there was already a motion to pass the changes to the law on the floor and that it had been seconded. City Clerk Tami McKay said, “Don’t forget at the beginning of the meeting there was a motion and it was voted on to change the order.”

Mayor Joe Hardy explained that in order to discuss additional off-leash options before voting on changing the law, the council would have to go back and undo their earlier vote.

“So as I understand it, Madam City Attorney, we are changing so that we can do number nine and have the exceptions. If we don’t make the law, we can’t make the exceptions,” he said.

After the unanimous, if grudging, vote to change the law, Hardy quipped, “Now we will go to number 9 and this is where it will be fun.”

City manager Ned Thomas presented a report outlining options that was developed by the city’s parks and recreation staff. He picked up on the theme of “this is the fun part” by saying that Parks and Recreation Director Julie Calloway was away on a pre-planned vacation. “So I’m pinch-hitting for her tonight. I’ll try to do my best to present the information that they’ve prepared, and yes, she owes me.”

For better than another hour, the council ground through those recommendations with the mayor masterfully corralling the discussion and getting the council to agree on small chunks before they put all of it into a resolution for a vote. At one point, when Walker pointed out that everything would need to go into a resolution, Hardy shut her down with, “I’m in charge here.”

In the end, this is how the leash law will look come early December.

Dogs will be able to be off leash in:The city’s two official dog parks

An area referred to as the “Hemenway channel” which is an unfenced grassy area that runs for about a quarter of a mile north of Boulder City Parkway between Ville Drive and Lake Mountain Drive

Some desert areas surrounding the city but not in the larger Eldorado Valley or in the undeveloped area adjacent to Veterans Memorial Park

North Escalante Park during park hours

Wilbur Square between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. and between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The last one comes with a caveat. It is dependent on staff being able to identify and organize a group of residents to be responsible for those hours including cleaning up after dogs. Also, Wilbur Square will be closed from January until March for maintenance of the irrigation system.

A similar effort for a residents’ group will be made for the Pratt Field area and the council will hear the results of that in six months.