Andover Town Meeting Asked to Put Some Teeth in Dog Ordinance

ANDOVER — Who let the dogs out? Town Meeting voters will decide on in May whether to allow dogs in Spring Grove Cemetery, according to the Eagle-Tribune.

Town Meeting voters will have a choice between Article 82, which would ban dogs, and Article 83, which would require them to be on a leash.

Those two warrant articles are two of nearly 85 warrant articles that will be debated on May 1 and 2. If additional days are required, they would be the following week, May 8 and 9.

“It’s been a very much talked about issue, and a divisive issue,” Town Manager Andrew Flanagan told the Eagle-Tribune, referring to the status of dogs at Spring Grove Cemetery.

In the past, cemetery trustees have attempted to limit, and then prohibit, dogs in the cemetery because of what they see as a growing problem with animal waste and disruption, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

The ban has generated opposition from some who say they have used the cemetery for years, and have never seen the kinds of problems the trustees report, such as dogs urinating on graves or barking during funerals.

But with any ordinance, enforcement is always an issue.

Andover Town Meeting
Where: Collins Center, 70 Shawsheen Road, Andover.
When: May 1 and 2, 7 p.m. start. Also, May 8 and 9 if necessary.

Details:
* A shuttle bus will be available to take voters to and from the parking lots to the auditorium on the first two nights of Town Meeting. Shuttle service will start at 6:15 p.m.
* All Town Meeting attendees must be checked into the meeting in the entrance lobby of the auditorium.
* Voters must check in at their precinct table. Residents may visit the town website at www.andoverma.gov, Town Clerk’s page to search for their precinct. To avoid delays at check-in, it is recommended that voters know their precinct before arriving at Town Meeting.

For more on this story read the Eagle-Tribune.