FALCONER – The Village of Falconer, the town is going to the dogs, and not in a good way.
During Monday’s Village Board meeting, trustees were informed about several barking dog complaints and homeowners who allegedly have been violating the village’s ordinance pertaining to the number of pets which may be kept within the village.
A brief written by Matt Abbey, village dog catcher, told the trustees that on April 26 the dog control officer received a voicemail complaint from a resident complaining of two separate, individual neighbors who both were keeping more than two dogs each in violation of Falconer’s pet limits. The dogs bark all day and night long, and allegedly don’t get exercised. And on April 30, the Ellicott town clerk emailed the dog control officer about a neighbor that came in and complained of a dog which is not licensed at another location.
“We’re a village,” said Trustee Timothy Dunn. “I’m not against people owning more than four dogs, but they need to do it outside the village.”
Agreeing with Dunn was Trustee Anthony (Skip) Cavallaro.
“People can ask for a permit or a variance for more, but there needs to be a time limit, and this should be for special circumstances only,” said Cavallaro.
Mayor James Jaroszynski had a similar thought process too.
“I spoke to the complainant, and she does not want to make an issue about her one neighbor, but only the other with the barking dogs. I informed her that more than two dogs are still more than two dogs. Her one neighbor has an approved variance for the number of dogs, and they’re all currently licensed.”
Dunn, then reminded the board members that the village has had to deal with this type of problem in the past.
“We have four pages of regulations dealing with chickens,” he said. “If we can regulate chickens, we can do a better job with the dog issues that are popping up.”
The Village of Falconer law Chapter 48: dogs and other animals, is the ordinance which sets all the regulations for animals kept within the village’s limits.
In a June 17, 2013, article by The Post-Journal, the board had to amend Chapter 48 to include the keeping of chickens. The mayor at the time, David Krieg, said the law was changed because village officials had received requests from residents about pet chickens. Also, he said the board wanted to make sure they had restrictions in place for those who have pet chickens.
“Well, we had some requests about people being able to raise chickens in the village,” Krieg said at the time. “We went through (the law) and tightened it and added restrictions.”
Krieg said the restrictions include needing a permit and applying for it each year.
“This way they can be inspected each year,” Krieg said. “There will also be no roosters allowed a limit on the number and how far they must be from property lines.”
