BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
HOWELL — Municipal officials will revisit amending the ordinance that will be used to adjudicate complaints stemming from noise nuisances caused by barking dogs.
Township representatives have been toying with different versions of the same amendment since the summer.
A previously suggested amendment proposed an 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. time period as the violation period for behavior that would constitute a nuisance.
However, an amendment now set for a public hearing and possible adoption on Nov. 23 does not establish a time period that a dog must bark before it can be regarded as a public nuisance and thereby in violation of the municipal ordinance.
Under the terms of the present ordinance which was adopted in January, a dog owner faces the prospect of receiving a municipal summons only if his dog “barks, howls or yelps for a period of more than 20 continuous minutes between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. or for a period of more than 15 continuous minutes between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.”
The amendment reads, “No person shall own, keep, harbor or maintain any dog which habitually barks or cries for a period of not less than 10 minutes in a manner which disturbs or interferes with or annoys the peace and tranquillity of the neighborhood.”
In a memo to Township Manager Bruce Davis, Township Attorney Thomas Gannon informed Davis that he would tailor the amendment to Howell’s ordinance in the fashion of the “more general language” contained in Manalapan and Freehold Township ordinances regarding the same matter.
As Gannon previously explained, the amendment will give Howell’s municipal court judge “better flexibility” when hearing complaints related to barking dogs.