Robbinsville – In regards to the revised animal-control ordinance, Robbinsville’s board of aldermen is making sure it has dotted their I’s and crossed its T’s.
Updating the measure has been discussed for months, with a draft ordinance presented at the June 7 board meeting. The original proposal laid out a template for punishment to those who offended any portion of the law: civil fines of $50, $100 and $500 being levied for the first three respective offenses; then a criminal summons and a $500 fine being issued.
At the July 5 meeting, an upgrade was decreed: out was the civil level, in was criminal charges across the board. Town attorney Ellen Davis estimated a week turnaround on both updating the ordinance and filing it with the proper state-level departments.
A dispute between neighbors over a barking dog on Atoah Street began in late-2021, which helped bring the outdated ordinance back to the spotlight. The bickering led to a citation being issued, but later dismissed when a former member of the District Attorney’s Office bargained that the citation would be dropped if the dog’s owners had the canine’s vocal cords removed.
But at the June board meeting, a heavy turnout from residents of Sweetwater Apartments added another layer to the ordinance. An adjoining property owner – which is not in the city limits, while the apartments are – let his dogs run loose freely, which has caused disturbances for residents and pets alike at the complex.
It was also alleged that if one of the unleashed dogs becomes a nuisance, the unidentified property owner will simply kill the animal – something a few of the apartment’s residents attested that they had witnessed before. The draft ordinance also includes a $500 fine for cruelty to animals (Section 6): charges are a Class 1 misdemeanor.