At an East Hampton Town Board work session in early August, Councilman David Lys sounded as if he had just about had enough. Lifeguards, politely trying to enforce and explain dog restrictions at town beaches, were being harassed or ignored by dog owners, he said, indicating that the board would take a fresh look at rules regarding dogs on town beaches in the off-season.
“If you want to harass our employees, we’re going to send out an officer of the peace to enforce our laws,” Councilman Lys said by phone later. “Having dogs at the beach is a freedom residents have enjoyed for decades, but there needs to be an effective means to tighten up the hose spigot a little bit.”
“The fire hydrant on the beach is a lifeguard stand, but that’s somebody’s workplace,” said John Ryan, the town’s chief lifeguard. Dog owners let their dogs go just about any place, he said, with nary an apology or attempt to mitigate the mess. He described bags of excrement left on the beach and washing around after storms, the same green bags that have become ubiquitous on the town’s trails. “Nobody likes to walk up and down the beach with a bag of sh**, but that’s your job. You came to the beach with your dog. It’s your responsibility as a dog owner.”
“Everyone believes some revisions are necessary,” said Tim Treadwell, senior harbormaster with the town’s Marine Patrol, the enforcement agency on the beach. “It has become problematic. There are so many dogs. The biggest problem are the service dogs. Most of the time they’re emotional service animals so they’re not exempt from our laws, but people use that as an excuse to break the rules.”
“Some people just don’t know the laws and once you tell them, they accept it. But there are others who feel they’re entitled to have their dog on the beach,” said Mr. Ryan. “It’s the responsibility of the lifeguard to know and enforce the rules of the beach. We can’t ticket and we’ll often get the old, ‘What’s the fine?’ question from people who are willing to risk it. They care less about others, or the law, and more about themselves and what they want. But there are many people who come to the beach and don’t want to be worried about a dog.”
Residents who go to the town website trying to understand the law might find it is not as simple as it could be.
“Dog owners must always keep their dogs under control, clean up after their pet and keep dogs out of protected nesting areas; there are also seasonal rules as to where and when dogs are permitted on the beach,” the website reads. However, “under control” isn’t defined. It’s not a simple leash law, and is open to interpretation. How a dog owner defines “control” likely differs from how an elderly person or young parent who feels threatened by an off-leash dog defines it.
Further complicating matters, residents are asked to read “East Hampton Town Code Chapter 91 Sections 4L (1) through (5) and the East Hampton Village code chapter 77 sections 4N(1) and (2).” One might fairly wonder how often that is happening.
Between May 15 and Sept. 15, dogs are restricted at town beaches from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. However, according to Mr. Ryan, that’s the first issue. “Regulations for dogs don’t start until 10 o’clock, but the beach is open at 9. So, there’s this hour of allowance where dogs can be on the beach where the beach is open. Once the clock rolls around we let these people know they have to move and that’s where they get disgusted with being told they can’t have their dog there.”
Owners are not allowed to set up on the beach for the day with their dog, leashed or not, anywhere on the beach inside of a 500-foot marker from the end of a paved road “except for those beaches listed in the East Hampton Town Code section 91-5B(2)(a) through (d),” explains the website. On bay beaches, the restriction is reduced to 300 feet in either direction from a paved road. Whenever dogs are passing through a restricted area, they must be leashed.
Simply put, if you’re at a beach and close to the parking area, your dog should be leashed, no matter the time, according to the rules.
“It’s common that dog owners give lifeguards a hard time,” said Mr. Treadwell. “They feel the lifeguard has no recourse. But the lifeguard can call us and if the owner and dog are on the scene, we issue two tickets: one for ignoring the lifeguard and the second for having the dog on the beach at a prohibited time.” He said 46 tickets had been written since May 15, which is on pace with last year’s summer season total of 59, roughly one ticket every two days.
“Montauk is much more cut and dry,” Mr. Treadwell continued. “You can’t walk your dog on the beach between 10 and 6, restrained or not.”
East Hampton Village also restricts dogs from May 15 until Sept. 15, but starts its restriction an hour earlier, at 9 a.m., each day. Another difference is that dogs must be on a leash if they’re within 300 feet of any road end, instead of 500 feet, as in the town. In a text, Mayor Jerry Larsen said he felt the village law was “sufficient.”
Of course, a final ever-changing conflict arises when protected piping plovers or least terns nest on a beach. In that case, even if a person takes their dog the requisite number of feet away from a paved road, if that puts them near a nesting area, the dog needs to be restrained.
“I don’t know how you make the laws clearer, unless you make them universal,” said Mr. Ryan. “Like Montauk, very clear. No dogs on the beaches during certain hours. There is no traversing or moving away from a road end.”
“Unfortunately, many dog owners feel their dogs are not bound by these rules, and simply because their dog may be fairly well behaved, they should not be held to these standards,” said East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo. “I can’t say whether new laws or designated areas would change this behavior. We feel responsible dog owners, who respect other beachgoers and maintain a common-sense control over and clean up after their pets are certainly not the ones causing these issues. Similar to any law, such as speeding or fireworks, despite enforcement efforts, public information campaigns, signage, and common sense there will still always be violators and those who disregard the rules and regulations.”
