Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Township resident Howard Lewis discusses a dog issue with Canfield Township trustees at their meeting Tuesday.

CANFIELD TOWNSHIP — Trustees opened the regular meeting on Tuesday with public input, with resident Howard Lewis speaking on a dog issue and asking trustees for assistance.

Lewis said his neighbor has five to six dogs and the dogs are getting out of the fenced backyard and running onto his property. He said they are actually wearing down a path through his wooded area alongside his house.

“The other day I pulled in my drive and saw one of the dogs sitting in my driveway,” he told trustees. “They bark all the time and periodically escape their yard. Is there any way to get some relief on this matter?”

Zoning Inspector Traci DeCapua said she was out to the site and actually walked the wooded area and saw the worn path.

“There are dog tracks on your property,” she told Lewis. “It appears to be a loop through your yard, and I found tracks both in and out of the fenced yard.”

She told trustees she would get in touch with the owners. She said they own three dogs and foster others, and the dogs are big ones.

DeCapua said as to the noise, it depends on when and how long they bark.

“If they just bark because you pulled into your drive, or for a mailman delivering, it is considered normal,” she said. “That is what dogs do.”

She said if the dogs continue to bark for no reason, they could fall under nuisances.

As for the number of dogs, the township has no regulations to limit the number.

On dogs running at large, DeCapua said the Ohio Revised Code does have a control for that.

“There is a leash law in the ORC as well as animals running at large,” she said. “It covers farm animals and dogs are included.”

For now, a change in the township’s zoning law is being considered. The present policy says a dog barking for 5 to 10 minutes is a nuisance. A new policy that has dogs barking in excess of 20 minutes continuously or for 45 minutes intermittently would be a violation. The 10-minute maximum would apply between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. During the daylight hours, the 20- and 45-minute limits would apply.

Once approved, the new dog policy would carry a warning for the first violation, a $75 citation the second violation and a $150 citation the third. As DeCapua told Lewis, the place to start is to talk to the neighbors about the problem of their dogs running at large. She said talking with the dog owners could see the problem solved.

“It is always my first recourse,” she said.

On the parks, a lot of future projects and work was on the agenda. Canfield Township Administrator Keith Rogers said the township is applying to be on the State Capital Budget for a grant to add two pieces of playground equipment for younger children and pave the driveway up to the multipurpose building.

He mentioned an Ohio Nature Works grant that got approved to add two bocce courts, more paving for access and ADA parking.

“We don’t have the prices yet,” Rogers said.

Trustees did approve an agreement with Aqua Doc Inc. of Chardon to do work on the park’s retention pond at a cost not to exceed $10,500. The work would involve removing cattails, cleaning the banks and removing two trees. The project is part of the township’s MS4Permit.

In other business, trustees discussed the backhoe for the Public Works Department. The present backhoe has become undependable. It is a 2009 New Holland and the department is looking at replacing it with a 2026 Case at a cost of $144,000 with the trade-in of $21,000.