Minutes for the Dog Bylaw Working Group Meeting
Wednesday 9 October 2017 10:30am
In attendance:
Councillor Andrew Whiley
Anna Nguyen (Personal Assistant)
Gaileen Ross
Peter Hanlin (Team Leader)
Adrian Blair (Group Manager)
Karen Anderson
Diana O’Kane
Richard Parkinson
Marita Johnson
Ros MacGill (Manager, Compliance Solutions)
Apologies
Simon Pickford (General Manager)
Kristy Rusher (Governance Support Officer)
Barb Long
1. Welcome and Apologies
2. Beach Issues
3. Bylaw Maps
Ros demonstrated the use of the maps and advised that it is still a work in progress. Ros
went through the changes that have been made so far to the colouring and the clarifying of
cross over areas. Marita raised a question about whether or not this map includes all
animals or dogs only. It has been confirmed that this is for dogs only. DCC are currently
looking into shared spaces and how to incorporate this into the map to indicate other uses
(i.e. runners, mountain bikers etc). Feedback was provided by Karen that there is still too
much information on the maps (e.g. areas that are not normally accessible to the public
should not be included at all as this causes confusion). Marita disagrees with this and
suggests that all commercial properties should be included (for future expansion purposes).
The Dunedin CBD was brought up and identified as a red zone (no dogs). Peter has checked
the resident exclusion clause in the dog bylaw and confirmed that residents can have a
dispensation and people can walk across the red zone to get to a specific location. It was
agreed that this is not an issue.
Ros demonstrated the user friendly bylaw map availability. The map brings you to the exact
location of where you are and the correlating information of the surrounding areas.
In relation to the colour issue, Ros has confirmed that this is currently being looked into by
the Blind Foundation for further feedback.
Karen has raised a concern regarding “adaptive technology” and that the maps are not
available with them. She believes that the maps have caused more problems than it has
solved issues and has now set Dunedin back compared to any other city in New Zealand.
Marita believes that DCC should be commended for taking the first step forward with
relation to maps and adaptive technology.
Diana suggested that it would be more useful for the maps to be used as information, not as
a regulator (by law). She also believes that the previous schedule was better if it was more
detailed.
4. Bylaw terminology
Ros provided an example of a definition for the word “control” from another Council and
asked for feedback. Diana suggested that there is no definition of control for a dog “off
leash” and this causes interpretation issues. Suggestions would be to include the dog’s
ability to (i) be called back straight away (ii) not rushing up to people or other dogs (iii) not
become a nuisance to other dog owners. It was raised that Auckland City Council may
provide online dog training (this is not confirmed so will need to be looked into). Diana
suggested that the focus needs to be more on education and the cultural shift in
expectation.
5. Sharing spaces
6. Next meeting date and time
Andrew suggested that the next meeting will be in early 2018.
