No Dogs After All: Seaside Heights To Drop Summer Boardwalk Plan

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NJ — The people have spoken, and Seaside Heights Mayor Anthony Vaz says he heard them loud and clear.

"The majority said they don't want dogs on the boardwalk during the summer," Vaz said Wednesday evening as he confirmed the borough will drop a plan that would have allowed leashed dogs to be on the boardwalk with their owners during the summer months.

Currently, borough ordinance allows dogs on the boardwalk from Oct. 1 through Palm Sunday. Vaz said that started last year and had been well-received.

With that success in mind, one of the council members suggested they try expanding to the summer, and that led to Monday's vote to introduce an ordinance that would have tried it for the 2018 summer. (RELATED: Seaside Heights May Allow Dogs On Boardwalk Year-Round)

As word spread on Tuesday, so did the reactions, from social media posts to emails and messages and phone calls.

"I got over 100 calls and messages put together," Vaz said. They weren't nasty, he said, but they were solidly against the proposal, and they came from dog lovers and business owners and tourists alike.

They raised concerns about what would happen if a dog was vicious or if someone got bitten, and they raised concerns about whether dog owners would be responsible, especially when it comes to cleaning up after them, Vaz said.

"We would never be able to answer all the concerns," he said, so he called the council members individually and urged them to not vote when the ordinance comes up on the May 2 council meeting.

"We gave it a shot, but obviously the public has spoken," he said.

People pack the boardwalk in Seaside Heights at the Polar Plunge. They won't be sharing the boardwalk with dogs during the summer after all. Photo by Karen Wall, Patch staff