Falls Passes Ordinance, Increases Fines for Owners of ‘Obnoxious’ Dogs

If a neighborhood dog is bothering you or your family in Falls Township – you may find relief in an ordinance passed by the township’s Board of Supervisors Tuesday evening.

Ordinance 2014-08, geared at preventing and offering consequences against owners who possess a dog defined as a “nuisance” or for those who do not properly clean up after their dog, passed with flying colors from both the board and attended residents.

Board Chairman Robert Harvie stated that the ordinance is “not for ordinary dogs that bark,” but dogs that excessively bark all day long. The ordinance also issues fines for residents who allow their dog to soil or defecate off their property without removing the waste.

“This has been advertised, and if you see someone walking their dog without picking up their waste, it is a criminal offense and something you can call the police for,” Harvie said.

This new ordinance is a replacement of a former ordinance, the newest “tweak” which Vice Chairman Jeffry Dence remarked as “as good as it’s gonna get” will impose up to a $100 fine for the first offense, up to a $200 fine for the second offense and up to a $300 fine for the third offense if an animal is defined as damaging or destroying property, creating a foul or obnoxious odor, causing an unsightly condition, disturbing the peace and quiet by repeated loud noise, barking, whining, howling, or making any noise natural to its species in an excessive, continuous or untimely fashion, or soiling, defiling, or defecating on any property other than the animal owner’s without removing such waste.

Falls resident Guido Mariani, who spoke in relation to the manner, brought along a tape recorder on which he had taped the repeated and obnoxious noise of a neighborhood dog. The dog, which according to Mariani, barks between 12:30 and 3:45 a.m. and is a “nuisance”. He wants to see the township do even more to deter this behavior.

“The current penalties are not sufficient to deter this behavior. Not only do the owners of these dogs know, they don’t care,” he said. ” Dog owners have no incentive to comply and the people living next door are denied their right to occupy and enjoy their property.”

Mariani suggested a $100 fine on the first offense, a $500 fine on the second offense and a $1000 fine on the third offense. Mariani even suggested the seizing and detaining of any dog which does not comply and a signing of this ordinance by all residents who wish to achieve a dog license.

Harvie remarked that all fines imposed by the township must be done in such a way to hold up in a court of law, stating that the new ordinance is quite a increase in comparison to the previous ordinance.

Previously, according to Solicitor Lauren Gallagher, first offense fines cost residents just $25.