More dog poop on the Boardwalk ?

Belmar moves to amend dog beach ban

Currently applies to out-of-town dogs

By FRAIDY REISS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

Gavin Crespo would love to bring his 3-year-old pit bull with him when he walks on the beach here.

Instead, he leaves Hennessy at home in Bradley Beach. Belmar law allows dogs on the beach during the off-season — but only if they are licensed in Belmar.

"That's wrong," Crespo, 50, said Wednesday as he walked alone along the shore. "It should be all dogs."

Soon Crespo and Hennessy might get their way. In response to complaints from visitors and residents, the Borough Council this week introduced an ordinance that would allow off-season beach access to dogs that are licensed by any municipality or government agency.

A public hearing on the measure is scheduled for Dec. 3. Mayor Kenneth E. Pringle, however, has already asked the Police Department to stop enforcing the current law.

"The whole point was kind of silly," Pringle said.

Most area beaches prohibit dogs altogether, the mayor said. Belmar officials decided four years ago to allow dogs on the beach from October through April, though for safety reasons they chose to allow only dogs that were licensed, he said.

However, Pringle said he was not sure how the ordinance ended up containing language that limited beach access to dogs licensed in Belmar.

With no signs on the beach warning people that only locally licensed dogs were welcome, visitors to the borough often were surprised when police issued them a summons for walking their dogs, Police Chief Jack Hill said.

"How are they supposed to know?" Hill asked. "It (the ordinance) was causing some confusion . . . and it should be changed."

He could not immediately say how many tickets the department has handed out over the past four years for dogs not licensed in Belmar.

Even if the borough changes its dog policy, Kathy Sweeney of Trenton said she and her little dog, Tobey, will never again walk on the Belmar beach. Not since September, when she violated two borough rules she did not know existed — walking on the beach before October with a dog whose license tag was issued in Trenton.

The summons she received cost her $289, she said.

"It was my first and last time in Belmar, thank you," Sweeney said. "It just doesn't welcome visitors. It's a cute little town, and they'd like to try to keep it as private as they can."

Not so, the mayor countered.

"There's no beach in New Jersey that has more visitors to it per square mile than Belmar," Pringle said. "We make great efforts to invite people to the community."

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