{"id":1282,"date":"2012-06-21T09:27:09","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T13:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=1282"},"modified":"2012-06-21T09:27:09","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T13:27:09","slug":"valley-proposes-stray-animal-ordinance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=1282","title":{"rendered":"Valley proposes stray animal ordinance"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jamie Richard<\/strong>, Staff Writer, CoatesvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>VALLEY \u2013 The board of supervisors discussed the possibility of creating an ordinance regarding dropping off unwanted or stray pets at the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter, Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The idea for an ordinance was suggested as a way to handle the concerns involving the large number of stray animals in the township.\u00a0 Currently, the township pays the required fee for dropping off animals at the local SPCA center.\u00a0\u00a0 The proposed ordinance would require the $35 fee to fall on the resident who took the animal to the shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to do something,\u201d said Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Patrice Proctor.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not fair\u2026to put it on the backs of the taxpayers to get rid of animals because people don\u2019t want to take care of them anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

While no official decisions have been made on the matter, several issues were raised over the implications of such an ordinance.\u00a0 Supervisor Kathy O\u2019Doherty expressed concerns that the ordinance could lead to more people abandoning pets and contributing to the number of stray animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to create a scenario where people just take their dog to the park and let it go rather than paying the fee,\u201d said O\u2019Doherty.<\/p>\n

Supervisors’ Vice Chairman Christopher Lahenky also expressed concern for residents who rescue stray animals and immediately took to the shelter, citing that they shouldn\u2019t have to pay for rescuing an animal that didn\u2019t belong to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t want innocent people to get fined for something they didn\u2019t do,\u201d said Vice Chairman Christopher Lahenky.<\/p>\n

According to Valley Police Chief Joseph Friel, the proposed ordinance would only apply to residents who either own or have taken care of an animal for an extended period of time.\u00a0 Fees for stray animals that have been found and rescued would still be the responsibility of the township.<\/p>\n

In other business, several residents came before the board to discuss the addition of a crosswalk at the intersection of Black Horse Hill Road and Lincoln Highway.<\/p>\n

Tom Wright spoke before the board to ask that a crosswalk be painted at the intersection, citing the high level of traffic as a potential danger to pedestrians crossing the intersection.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bare bones intersection\u2026there are stop signs but there\u2019s no sign for pedestrians or even a white line at the stop signs,\u201d said Wright.<\/p>\n

According to Wright, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation would not install a crosswalk at the intersection, but allowed the township to do so if it wished.\u00a0 The issue is further complicated by the fact that Lincoln Highway is a state road; supervisors said they felt that if the township installed a crosswalk, they would then be liable for a road in which they have no jurisdiction over.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt puts us in a bad liability position, working on a road that we have no jurisdiction over,\u201d said Proctor.<\/p>\n

Resident Ed Gruber called on the board to paint the crosswalk regardless of liability, citing that the township was responsible for the safety of its residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre we going to wait until someone is seriously injured or killed until we take action on this?\u201d said Gruber.<\/p>\n

Though the board sympathized with residents, they felt unable to open themselves to the liabilities associated with placing and maintaining a crosswalk on a road in which they have no authority over.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a problem with the crosswalk, the township gets sued,\u201d said township solicitor Alan Jarvis.<\/p>\n

The board of supervisors will hold their next regularly scheduled meeting on Jul 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jamie Richard, Staff Writer, CoatesvilleTimes.com VALLEY \u2013 The board of supervisors discussed the possibility of creating an ordinance regarding dropping off unwanted or stray pets at the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter, Tuesday. The idea for an ordinance was suggested as a way to handle the concerns involving the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[401,400,181,120],"class_list":["post-1282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-spca","tag-stray-animal-ordinance","tag-township-supervisors","tag-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}