(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
February 11, 2019 - 4:57 PM
VERNON - Dog owners in Vernon will not be ticketed for allowing their dogs off leash at Marshall Fields.
Vernon City Council passed the motion to suspend ticketing until an environmental report and a study into the viability of an off-leash dog area at Marshall Fields was complete.
Coun. Scott Anderson put forward the amendment giving dog owners temporary relief from tickets. The motion to suspend ticketing for 30 days was originally passed by council in January and has now been extended until sometime into the summer. City staff recommended the environmental report be conducted in June.
The motion does not change the bylaw that prohibits dogs from being off leash but instead allows dog owners a temporary relief from fines if they let their dogs off leash on a section of Marshall Fields. Dogs will still not be allowed on the playing fields or golf disc course either on or off leash.
The motion passed in council with Coun. Akbal Mund, Coun. Kari Gares and Coun. Kelly Fehr voting against the suspension of fines.
Coun. Anderson told council a fence would "solve all the problems." Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming told iNFOnews.ca the environmental report would have to be completed before a decision or any work took place.
The issue surrounding the off-leash dog bylaw was raised by Darlene Haine Jan. 21 when she presented a petition to council asking for the bylaw that prohibited dogs from going off-leash to be changed.
A counter petition was started a week later by the North Okanagan Youth Soccer Association, which play on Marshall Fields and is opposed to letting dogs off leash at Marshall Fields.
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