DOGS MAY BE ALLOWED BACK INTO TAKAKA AND ANOTHER POPULAR BEACH YEAR-ROUND

Dog owners may soon be allowed to bring their pooches back on to Takaka’s main street, and another popular beach year-round.

Golden Bay residents can have their say on an early review of the Tasman District Council’s dog control bylaw, covering both Motueka and Golden Bay wards.

Two amendments for the Bay would allow dogs on leashes back on to Commercial St in Takaka and at Tata Beach year-round, except from sunset until 8.30 am every day.

Once the council has considered the public’s views, there will no right to appeal the final decision.

The dog control bylaw was last reviewed in 2014 and is next due for review in 2024. However, there have been several calls to bring that review forward.

The early review covers amendments of the bylaw affecting the Motueka and Golden Bay wards, with each corresponding community board handling the process.

Many residents have complained that Golden Bay is “out of step” with the rest of the Tasman district where dogs are allowed on main streets.

Jeweller and dog owner, Pam Nelson, said the ban on dogs in town was “unfriendly and rude” and the “outdated” bylaw needed to be abolished.

As a business owner on the main street for 10 years, Nelson said she often saw unsuspecting tourists walking through town with their “well-behaved” dogs on leads.

“Then locals take it into their own hands to tell these people that dogs aren’t allowed, and the tourists are horrified, so they leave town.

“They’re not leaving their dog in a hot car on a hot summer’s day,” she said.

But Golden Bay Rural Women NZ chairperson, Carolyn McLellan, doesn’t agree.

“Personally, I don’t like dogs in the main street, because it’s such a narrow street. And I know plenty of others who feel the same,” she said.

McLellan said she was “astounded” at what she called a lack of consultation, and that there would be no right to appeal the final decision.

Golden Bay Community Board chair, Abbie Langford said making a submission was the actual consultation process. She encouraged everyone to submit their views.

Andrew Davies is part of a group of Tata Beach residents who have been pushing for the early review.

Davies said the group had worked for 18 months with Tata residents, dog owners, and environmental groups to find a solution that worked for everyone, including protecting birdlife.

Tata Beach is a popular dawn gathering place for one of New Zealand’s largest spotted shag colonies, and also for little blue penguins.

The group had also surveyed the neighbourhood and found 48 households were in support of the review.

The current bylaw doesn’t allow dogs on Tata Beach between September 27 and April 4.

But Davies said the ban was too long, because the beach was empty for many of those months.

The current bylaw, which didn’t reflect the majority of residents’ needs, had also created a “split” in the community, he said.

But two environmental groups in Golden Bay recently withdrew their original submissions in support of the proposed bylaw changes at Tata Beach.

This was despite working for many months with residents to come to the agreement.

Cynthia McConville, from the Mohua Blue Penguin Trust and Forest and Bird Golden Bay said it didn’t like to renege on an agreement made with dog owners, but “the actions of TDC’s regulatory manager gave us no choice”.

The groups believe the Tata headland and estuary should have been included in the proposal.

Council’s communications advisor, Chris Choat, said submitters could ask to consider extending the zone as part of their submissions.

Submission close at 4.30pm on Wednesday, August 19, 2020.