CANFIELD TOWNSHIP Resident seeks dog ordinance

Trustees heard a resident's plea for peace and quiet at night.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Township trustees have agreed to consider an ordinance concerning barking dogs after Leo Majernik of Sugarbush Drive complained Monday about a neighbor's dogs, which he said are extremely disruptive.
The two large dogs bark outdoors day and night, he said.
"I'm fed up with getting up at 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning with these dogs barking. I cannot keep my windows open. You never know when they're going to bark. Sometimes they'll bark for half an hour or an hour," sometimes prompted by deer or raccoons passing through the area, he told trustees.
Majernik said he and his wife often need to move from one bedroom to another to escape the noise.
"We shouldn't have to do that. It's nothing more than consideration for your neighbors. It's not asking a lot," he said.
Majernik said that he has approached the dog owners but that they have not been cooperative. He said someone at the Mahoning County Dog Warden's office told him nothing could be done about the problem because the township has no ordinance.
Majernik said his daughter, who was visiting from Chicago, called the sheriff's department a year ago, and the deputies who responded between 1:30 and 2 a.m. said they could hear the barking but there was nothing they could do.
Asks for ordinance: Majernik brought copies of the dog barking ordinances from Austintown and Boardman to the meeting and asked trustees if they could enact a similar ordinance here.
Zoning Inspector Dave Morrison said that Canfield Township has no ordinance but that if one were to be enacted, he thinks the sheriff's department would enforce it.
"They can't enforce anything unless we have it on the books as an ordinance," said Trustee Judy Bayus, who suggested having the county prosecutor's office draft legislation for consideration at next month's meeting.
If necessary, Trustee William Weaver said, the trustees could even convene a special meeting to consider such an ordinance. "I know how disconcerting that can be. I've had that problem in my neighborhood off and on. I think it's something well worth our efforts," Weaver said.
Other matters: Morrison announced in his report that there have been 73 single-family housing starts so far this year, exceeding by 10 the number for all of 2000.
Road superintendent Gary Cook announced that the township has applied for state Issue 2 money to replace three deteriorating culverts next year that carry Indian Run under St. Andrew's Drive. "It drains over 1,000 acres into that area," he said of the stream.
If the culverts collapse, they'd bring down the road, isolating 244 households in that dead end, Cook said.
The township would contribute $48,732 (31 percent) and the Ohio Public Works Commission $108,428 (69 percent).