ENGLEWOOD — Are you one of those people who pick up after the dog as soon as it does its business? Or do you let the evidence sit there on the lawn for weeks until it hardens like petrified wood?
If you’re in the latter group, and you live in Englewood, you’d best be changing your ways.
The city recently adopted an ordinance that gives people 72 hours to pick up their pet’s poop. Not in a city right of way, a park or even on someone else’s property.
In their own yards.
“That is crazy,” said David VanValkenberg, who lives on South Pennsylvania Avenue.
“Give it twice that long and maybe it might be appropriate.”
The law was part of a broader change to the city’s code concerning pets.
Deputy City Manager Mike Flaherty assures that the new law, which came from a task force that met for 1 1/2 years, won’t mean the poop police will be out patrolling the back alleys of Englewood looking for scofflaws.
But if someone complains about excessive excrement on a property, and that happens on a regular basis, he said, “it gives us another tool.”
Englewood is unique in putting a stopwatch on pet owners.
A check of other area cities, such as Denver, Aurora, and Lakewood, shows there is no specific time frame. But if a complaint is made, residents in those cities then have to clean up within a number of days or face a fine.
Violators of the Englewood law could face fines from $50 to $999. But warnings for the first few violations are more likely.
Karen Ramsey of Englewood was walking her dog, Emily, on a recent day. She called the new law “unfair” and hopes the city uses common sense when it comes to enforcement.
“I pick it up once a week when I am doing my yard work,” Ramsey said. “I would see (the logic) if it was in the front yard.”
The Englewood measure was done for sanitary reasons, officials said. But enforcement could be tough, Flaherty acknowledged, because it’s difficult to know precisely how long the poop has been there.
“In the winter, it’s even harder to tell because in two hours, it’s going to be frozen,” he said.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
