Ocean Grove Main Beach will be dog free all year if Barwon Coast Committee of Management approves the City of Greater Geelong’s recommendation.
Council voted to support a permanent dog-free beach following a two year trial, which saw dogs allowed on the Main Beach as long as they were on a leash in the first year. Dogs were prohibited from the beach altogether during the second year of the trial.
Council adopted the second-year model at a meeting on Tuesday night.
To compensate, the summer season will be reduced by two months to the beginning of December to the end of February (plus Easter) to increase opportunities for dog-walking on other areas of beach managed by the Barwon Coast Committee of Management.
The dog free area is between 13W Hodgson St beach access stairs and the western end of Main Beach promenade and accounts for approximately 805 metres of beach.
In response to feedback in year one of the trial, the City employed two additional animal management officers to support monitoring and enforcement of ongoing orders in all coastal areas across the municipality.
Mayor Trent Sullivan said it was a challenging issue because dog control orders often generate passionate and contrasting views between dog owners and non-dog owners.
“Feedback on the trial showed that dogs are important for health and wellbeing and equally, the presence of dogs can negatively impact beach experiences for some people,” he said.
“We hope we have struck the right balance between people who enjoy walking their dog on the beach, and people want to enjoy a section of the beach that is dog-free.”
In total, 1976 people provided feedback on the trial with 1139 responding in year one and 837 in year two. Seventy-six per cent of respondents in both years were dog owners and preferred lesser restraint on dogs than non-dog owners.
There were 111 responses to the year two survey in support of dog prohibition, indicating that people have a right to enjoy the beach without dogs present, citing previous negative encounters with dogs, safety concerns (especially for children) and fear of dogs.
Feedback in year two indicates that 28 per cent of respondents preferred no dogs on Main Beach year-round while 27 per cent preferred dogs on leash on Main Beach during the winter period and 44 per cent preferred dogs off leash during winter period.
