Roslyn Harbor approves dog code revision

Chris Adams

Roslyn Harbor trustees approved a bill Thursday that will prohibit boarding of dogs in local residences. 

Village officials said the dog code was put in place to prevent a potential nuisance, but would not in any restrict residents’ ownership of dogs.

“If you as a person have five dogs, you can have five dogs,” Mayor Louis Badolato said. “This is a law that doesn’t limit the number of dogs you can own, that’s your right. But you cannot, for business or pleasure, board dogs you do not own.”

Badolato  said the new dog code was prompted by a local resident who was boarding several dogs on his property. 

After they became a disturbance to nearby neighbors, an online posting was found heavily suggesting he was accepting dogs for a fee, he said.

The village attempted to ticket the resident, but as the law was written, penalties could not be issued without proof of monetary exchange, which the resident denied, Badolato said. 

The existing law prohibited a Roslyn Harbor resident from running a business out of their own home, but the proof in this case was difficult, he said. The new dog code removes the qualification in order to target any future unnecessary animal disturbances.

“You’ll no longer have to prove that money was handled, because we had issues with that,” Trustee Sandy Quentzel said.

Residents asked who to contact with complaints.

Badolato said they could contact him personally, after which he gave out his business card.

Quentzel added that the police are empowered to enforce the village code, “so you can call them too.”

Another clause in the law asks that residents call the village to disclose if any additional dogs belonging to friends or relatives will be present during visits. 

Badolato said that the village was interpreting the previous law correctly, but the 

“In this village, we’re all about making sure everyone gets along, and we don’t want anybody disturbing the peace for the people around them,” he said. “We were nice about it, we didn’t give the guy a ticket right away. We said please just don’t do this, and he tried to find a loophole, so we closed the loophole.”

Village trustees also approved a revision to the pool code, which requires any in-ground or above-ground swimming pool to be at least 20 feet from property lines, and any accessories or equipment associated with the pool must be 15 feet away.

The previous language allowed for different interpretations of the laws, but now there are clear definitions of the regulations in place, Badolato said.

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