Windsor adopts dog, noise ordinances

Published 12:00 am Monday, May 14, 2007

WINDSOR – Town Commissioners wrapped up loose ends here Thursday.

The Windsor Board of Commissioners officially adopted two ordinances that had been approved earlier this year.

One action was to amend the ordinance of the town relating to dangerous and potentially dangerous dogs.

The matter has been discussed on several recent agendas and was slated to be settled last month, but was removed from the agenda when the ordinance wasn’t finished.

According to the town’s old ordinance, Windsor Police Chief Rodney Hoggard was responsible for determining what was or was not a dangerous animal. Hoggard said he needed more direction and a committee was appointed to study the idea.

After consulting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the committee recommended a variety of dogs to be defined as “potentially dangerous.”

Those species included Pitt-bull type, Rottweiler, German Shepherd, Husky-type, Malamute, Wolf-dog hybrid, Chow-Chow, Doberman and mixed breeds of those animals.

The ordinance further calls for dogs that attack human beings or other domestic animals without provocation or any dog with a known propensity for attacking humans or other animals to be called “potentially dangerous.”

Two other dogs that would reach that status would be those who inflict bites on a person that results in broken bones, disfiguring lacerations or requiring cosmetic surgery or any dog that has killed or inflicted serious injury upon a domestic animal.

The final dog that would be labeled “potentially dangerous” is any dog that approaches a person when not on the owner’s property in a vicious or terrorizing manner in an apparent attitude of attack.

After studying the ordinance for two months, commissioners officially adopted the proposal during last week’s town board meeting.

Commissioner Bob Brown made the motion to adopt the ordinance as presented with Commissioner Charles W.D. Fulk offering a second. It passed by unanimous vote.

After passing that ordinance, the town board also officially adopted the Noise Ordinance Amendment approved at their April meeting.

The ordinance provided a measurable distance for noises that are prohibited. It provides that a person will not be able to operate or play a radio, stereo, disc player, musical instrument or similar device in such a manner as to be plainly audible to any person more than five feet away in the case of a motor vehicle or 10 feet away in the case of a pedestrian.

It establishes a barrier of 50 feet from any commercial, residential, multi-family dwelling or public place when the noise comes from a business or residence.

That motion, also made by Brown, was seconded by Commissioner Hoyt Cooper and passed without objection.

In other business, the board:

* officially adopted a new rental usage policy for the Windsor Community Building;

* authorized the sale of a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria and 1992 Ford Explorer;

* agreed to write off delinquent utility accounts when the person is deceased and attempts to collect the debt have failed; and

* approved four budget amendments.