Fredericton considering bylaw enforcing no kids at dog parks

FREDERICTON – The City of Fredericton is considering a proposal by residents to enact a new bylaw enforcing a rule blocking children from dog parks.

A sign outside the city’s two dog parks says children under 12 are not allowed within the fence of the park. But, it’s hard for the city to enforce the rule.

City councillor Greg Ericson told Global News the residents were appointed to a committee that oversees the dog parks and makes suggestions to council.

“They had a variety of suggestions for how the city ought to run the dog parks and do dog park management,” he said.

“One of these recommendations was that a bylaw be put in place concerning young children and the park.’

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Ericson said he’d be meeting with the some members of the committee on Tuesday as well as with some bylaw enforcement officers to discuss the proposal.

“We’re going to have a conversation about best practices in other communities that have dog parks and have issues of liabilities to manage and how they’ve done it with respect to bylaws governing participation of young children,” he said.

John Burns, a recreation officer with the City of Fredericton, and the staff liaison for the committee told Global News the proposal came about because there were incidents of residents not following the posted rules. He said the committee felt more needed to be done.

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Burns added that the original rule came about as a way to keep both children and dogs safe at the park.

But Fredericton is not the only municipality in the province with age restrictions at a dog park.

Riverview has the same rule as Fredericton at it’s only dog park, while Moncton requires all handlers to be 16 years old, but allows children accompanied with an adult as long as they only interact with their own dog.

Saint John has signs posted that say children under 11 must be accompanied by an adult.

Ericson said the city will consider the public’s wishes before enacting any new bylaw.

“We don’t want to exclude people needlessly from the city’s dog parks.”