Friday, November 23, 2001
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Friday, November 23, 2001 |
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PTC Council says: curb your pet or get a ticket By JOHN
MUNFORD
Peachtree City pet owners, get your plastic shovels and plastic baggies ready. At least if you want to walk Fido in a city park or athletic field. Cleaning up after pets' deposits is now mandatory, thanks to an ordinance passed by the City Council at its meeting last week. Violators can be ticketed if necessary, and brought to municipal court where the fine could reach a maximum of $1,000. Randy Gaddo, the city's director of leisure services, said he would approach City Court Judge A. Mitchell Powell to get a special set of fines for the pooper scooper violations, likely with increasing fines for multiple citations. Council agreed to have the city's new parks monitor sworn in so he may write the pooper scooper citations, much like code enforcement officers are sworn in to enforce city codes. The recreation department will also alter its park signage to notify users of the ordinance requirements, Gaddo said. Recreation employees have tried to work with pet owners on cleaning up after their pets, but complaints from citizens about youths running into "evidence" of the pets on athletic fields have escalated recently, Gaddo told council. The ordinance also bans animals from all tennis and outdoor basketball courts unless special permission is granted by the recreation department. Several citizens have approached council about applying the pooper scooper ordinance to the city's cart paths also. Council agreed to look into that possibility in the coming weeks.
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