- June 15, 2024
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The county’s dog-friendly beach pilot program is successful, said Ormond Beach residents and volunteers with Daytona Dog Beach as they asked the Ormond Beach City Commission at its meeting on Tuesday, May 21, to continue their support of the county initiative.
Volusia County celebrated the launch of the new pilot program on Nov. 1, 2023, by allowing dogs on a 0.6-mile stretch of beach in Ormond between Milsap Road and Rockefeller Drive. In March, a petition to end the program was started by former City Commissioner David Schecter, who lives in a condo north of the pilot program area. The petition has been signed 343 times as of Wednesday morning, and cites that dog owners are not adhering to the program’s rules to keep their dogs leashed and clean up after them as reasons to get rid of the pilot program.
Schecter also spoke before the commission on Tuesday, pushing back against claims made by supporters of the pilot program that he and other condo-owners want a “private beach.”
“Ending the dog beach pilot will end the grievance,” Schecter said. “That is the grievance, so there isn’t something else going on here. ... We just want the beach the way it’s been and the county seems to be, every day, doing something to change that.”
Schecter also questioned the data both the county and Daytona Dog Beach Inc. — a nonprofit that helped spearhead the pilot program last year and continues to aid in enforcing the rules — shared to illustrate the program’s success.
According to the county, there have been 6,223 dogs counted in the dog-friendly beach over the past four months. A total of 204 warnings were given for a dog spotted off its leash, two warnings of owners not cleaning up after their dog, and 100% compliance.
Schecter also said the area isn’t being monitored 24/7.
Nanette McKeel Petrella, president of Daytona Dog Beach, started a counter petition on May 1 in support of the program. That petition has been signed 1,781 times.
At the commission meeting, Petrella said her volunteers put in 30-50 hours per week on the dog-friendly stretch of beach and removed 1,218 pounds of trash in April.
“The volunteers report overall excellent adherence to the rules within the dog beach area. The messages we receive while on the beach and on our social media platforms are positive and heartwarming.”
The pilot program, she said, has created a legal area for people to have their dogs on the beach, and said that the petition to end the program has been “inaccurate, misleading, uninformed and self-serving to a small minority.”
“It’s easy to complain ad criticize,” she said.
At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Travis Sargent suggested the city, rather than ask the county to end the program, should ask it to enforce the animal ban outside of the pilot program area, which he said seems to be the real issue.
“I don’t think we should, at this point, ask to end a pilot program that is, if you look at it, it is successful within that .6 miles of beach,” he said. “I think we need to come together. I think we need to identify the problems which are outside the area and get those rectified.”
City Commissioner Travis Sargent — following a May 14 workshop where commissioners discussed possible future uses for the former golf course property — said at the commission’s May 21 meeting that the city should consider issuing out a request for proposals for a new golf course operator, to see if any companies interested.
“Maybe there’s not any companies out there that would be willing to undertake this,” Sargent said. “But I think we owe it to the residents to give them that opportunity to see if anyone is.”
Commissioner Lori Tolland said that could be one way to show residents all possibilities were looked at.
City Managaer Joyce Shanahan said, due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s prior disinterest in leasing the property for another golf course, she didn’t think it was prudent to use staff time on an RFP.
Mayor Bill Partington agreed, citing the $8 million cost to bring the course back up to standard, as quoted when the city last had an appraisal on the property.
