Dog beach raises neighbors' ire

By Jose de Wit

It came as a shock to professional dog walker Monika Stefaniak when she realized she couldn't bring her clients' dogs to nearby North Beach in Hollywood.

"I just didn't understand how we could live so close to so much beach and not let our dogs in," Stefaniak said. "To some people who don't have kids, dogs are like their babies."

The solution seemed simple enough at first: find some supporters, lobby the city, get a dog-friendly beach.

With some quick research, Stefaniak found up a few other South Florida cities with beaches that allow dogs – Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Jupiter are just a few – tracked them down and found out how those beaches got their start.

Stefaniak needed to form a group, a non-profit, so she could raise some funds and lobby the city government. She rounded up her husband, Jeffrey, and co-worker and fellow dog walker Paula Miller, called up the local newspapers and organized a meeting at a local restaurant.

Among 50 or so people who showed up was Lisa Heller, a pilot (CQ?), law student and dog owner. Together, Heller and the Stefaniaks started the Off-Leash Dog Beach of Hollywood Association.

This was in the late summer of 2006, and the three had no idea it would take more than a year of rallies, fundraisers and negotiating local politics to finally get their dog beach.

"I used to joke with my husband that next time, I'm going to try something easier," Heller said. "I could start a terrorist training camp and I'm almost sure that would be less controviersial."

The group encountered much resistance from city officials – and, more importantly, condo associations – who cited fears ranging from doggy doo to dog fights.

Area residents drove the group away from the spot it had originally picked, a small piece of beach toward the south, behind the Hollywood Beach Culture and Community Center.

After a long bout of negotiations, the group finally received initial approval from the North Beach Neighborhood Association for a 100-yard stretch of beach between Custer and Pershing streets.

In an emotional commission meeting July 18, more than an hour of heated discussion just barely resulted in a victory, albeit partial, for the group. The commission allowed the city parks and recreation department to open the stretch of beach to dogs and their owners during a 60-day trial period.

A city employee, paid for by Heller and Stefaniak's group, would be present at all times to supervise, enforce rules and answer questions.

It was not made clear at any point (nor has it been made clear yet) by what criteria the trial would be ruled a success in order to make the dog beach permanent.

"If the standard is going to be perfection, we'd have to ban all the beaches. We'd have to disband the government," Heller said. "But it's the same as with anything else. You get a lot of people together, it's the same thing, at some point there's going to be one bad apple."

So far, though, in the beach's 2 ½ months of operation, there have been no bad apples.

Granted, by most accounts, the beach got off to a choppy start.

The orange traffic cones and flags that separate the 100-yard dog park from the rest of the beach mean nothing to a giddy pack of romping dogs. On more than a few occasions, a distracted owner would lose sight of his or her roving dog, which would stray outside the boundaries to make friends with sunbathers.

But over the initial 60-day trial period, there were no major incidents.

"Were there dogs that passed the boundary [that separates the park from the rest of the beach Absolutely," Heller said. "But people were pretty good about taking ownership – this is our beach, we're taking care of it. By and large it was successful.Even the residents who had originally objected to the beach didn't speak out the second time around."

The city parks and recreation rangers assigned to supervise the beach didn't notice any major problems, either, said park ranger supervisor Tom Laurida.

The biggest challenge was opening day, when two sea turtles decided to nest smack in the middle of the 100-yard dog beach. No matter: rangers simply shifted the designated beach a few yards over.

"Dog people are animal people," Laurida said. "People have been really good and understanding."

Laurida said he expects the beach's operation to run even more smoothly since the city began charging an admission fee to use the beach. He said that while 2,340 patrons visited the beach during the initial 60-day trial period, those numbers have since dropped sharply.

The relative peace surrounding the beach's first 60 days corresponds with the experience in other nearby parks and beaches. Ponciana Dog Park, also in Hollywood, has only had minor incidents in its four years of existence, though it is open all day, every day. Fort Lauderdale's Canine Beach has had only one major incident, in which a small dog was killed, in 12 years of operation.

Especially absent have been the vicious dog fights naysaying neighbors had warned about.

"You put them together, and they establish their own pecking order," Heller said. "Even though they might sometimes show it in different ways, like rowdy little boys."

Nonetheless, when the commission reviewed the resolution on Oct. 17, toward the end of the trial period, it decided to extend it the beaches existence only on a temporary basis. The commission granted the beach a second trial period, this time for six months.

The commission also started charging dog owners for using the beach. Hollywood residents pay $5 for a weekend pass or $30 for a six-month pass. Non-residents pay $10 for a weekend pass or a whopping $125 for a six-month pass.

The idea behind the charge is to make the beach self-sustaining, so that the fees offset the cost of operating the park.

Heller said there's more to it.

"Part of it is they really want it to be a benefit for residents, since Hollywood dollars that are going towards this," she said. "The mayor especially feels very strongly about it, and that's how the commission voted."

When the beach's second trial period is over in April 20 08, the commission will decide for good whether to make the 100-yard stretch of beach permanently dog-friendly.

Monika Stefaniak is already pitching another battle, this time against her own condo.

Oddly enough, despite Monika's profession and despite the Stefaniaks' involvement in lobbying for the dog beach's opening, the couple doesn't own a dog. Their condo doesn't allow pets

"I think it's fair that if you own a property, even if it's a condo, you should be allowed to have a pet," Monika Stefaniak said. "But I don't care. I'm willing to pay any fine."

She said that, given her business as a dog sitter, she often has holds clandestine sleepovers for her customers' pets. She's also convinced that a good amount of her neighbors are also secretly breaking the condo's no-pet rule.

Most of Stefaniak's neighbors are snowbirds. Come December, when they're back in town, she's hoping that she'll be able to make her condo dog-friendly, too.