Trying out dogs on the beach, at least in a designated area south of T-Street, has San Clement leaders’ support now.
The six-month trial approved this week by the City Council will still need a nod from the California Coastal Commission and comes with a list of rules for the canines.
The pooches would only be allowed on the beach between 6 and 8 a.m. and again after 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, from 6 to 8 a.m. on Fridays, and would be restricted on weekends.
The dogs will also have to be on a leash at all times and owners will need to clean up after their pets.
The idea of dogs on the beach has been brought up in town several times in past years, the latest direction in 2024 for the Department of Beaches, Parks and Recreation staff to come back with suggestions following several public meetings and ideas regarding the dog access.
Staff came back to the council on Tuesday, Aug. 19, suggesting two areas, North Beach and a section of sand south of T-Street that would be accessible from the beach trail, north of Calafia State Beach.
After discussing the locations and also contemplating an area just south of Linda Lane, councilmembers voted to try the T-Street site, which goes from Tower 7 to Boca del Canon beach, about 1,500 feet in length.
Speaker Amanda Quintanilla noted the city’s challenges with water quality, when the beach town previously landed on Heal the Bay’s Beach Bummer list, earning one of the worst grades in the state for poor water quality near the pier.
And the city has problems in North Beach with a drain that flows into the ocean, she said. Adding to the water quality challenges could cause the city to face fines, she said.
“There’s a concern if people don’t pick up their dog’s nuggets, this will cause a problem and the state will come down, and we have to be compliant,” Quintanilla said.
Resident Ken Poczekaj thanked the city for how much North Beach has been cleaned up in recent years, with visitors showing up in droves on weekends.
“When it comes to a dog beach, from a health standpoint, dogs pee on all corners of everything,” he said. “They like to pee on top of other pee, so we’ll have a pile of pee and we don’t get a lot of rain, so that will not get washed away, so it will stay in the sand.”
He also worries about the kids who come to the beach to play.
“Dogs and children sometimes don’t play well together,” he said. “From a safety standpoint, we have to figure out, is it a dog beach or a human beach with dogs? In the end, a dog beach brings little value to North Beach and its community.”
Other city issues, such as repairing the beach trail and adding a nicer dog park in town, should be focused on instead, Poczekaj argued.
Resident and dog owner Robert Collacott also urged the council to reject the idea. Collacott, who used to work in the county’s water quality department, said the city has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars dealing with bacterial contamination.
“We have better things to spend our money on, such as restoring our beach trail,” he said.
Councilman Rick Loeffler agreed that North Beach was not a good location for the pilot project.
“The beach is way too narrow, at high tide, there’s hardly any beach,” he said. He also said a one-year pilot project would be too long, that it should be completed before the busy season.
“We can evaluate and if it’s not working, we can dump it before summertime,” he said.
Enforcement was also a concern, he said.
Councilmember Mark Enmeier was against the idea of using the area south of Linda Lane near the lifeguard tower, arguing that is a busy area with families.
He also worried that dogs on the beach could add to the city’s workload.
“I understand we are a very busy city and we have a lot going on, and we keep adding to the traffic jam,” he said. “I know the priority is to get a dog park.”
Mayor Steve Knoblock, who has pushed for the dog beach for several years, said there are 16,000 dog owners in the city.
“The dog owners love the idea,” he said. “A third of our population own dogs and would love to have access. I like the idea of testing it out.”
Enforcement would be the same as the no-smoking or drinking ban at the beach, he added.
The six-month pilot project would start following approval from the state commission.