MOUNT VERNON — Faced with complaints about hazardous hounds, the City Council is considering increasing the insurance requirements for owners of dangerous dogs.
The City Council will hold a public hearing Wednesday to gauge approval of the idea and of the city’s current dangerous-dog ordinance.
Following that hearing, the council will consider a $235,000 contract for design work for the intersection of College Way and Freeway Drive.
Under state law, dogs that have inflicted serious injuries on people or have killed a pet are “dangerous,” and those that bite or chase in a menacing way are considered “potentially dangerous.”
The city’s current ordinance requires owners to have $250,000 in insurance or surety bonds for dangerous dogs and $50,000 for potentially dangerous dogs.
Council members have suggested raising that to $500,000 for dangerous dogs and $250,000 for potentially dangerous dogs.
City Attorney Kevin Rogerson said the insurance or surety bond requirements have not been changed for a while. He said an increase may now be warranted given the level of injury sometimes inflicted by dogs, and the cost of the resultant medical and legal costs.
“There are examples you hear in the media of especially children getting really, really hurt,” he said.
Discussion of the city’s existing ordinance was prompted by several complaints from residents to the mayor and other city officials. The topic was first taken up by the City Council’s Public Safety Committee in May and then the City Council in July.
At both meetings, there was discussion of other municipalities’ regulations, particularly those that ban specific breeds, such as pit bulls.
Rogerson said council members have not indicated interest so far in adding breed-specific regulations.
Of the 117 dogs listed as potentially dangerous by the city between 1995 and 2008, there were 32 pitbulls, 13 purebred labs or lab mixes and 19 purebred or mixed German Shepherds.
There are three dangerous dogs and 20 potentially dangerous dogs currently managed by the city. In addition to insurance or surety bonds, owners must register their dogs and keep them enclosed at home and restrained when not.
Also on the agenda is a proposed agreement with Reichhardt & Ebe Engineering Inc., which is involved with the College Way and Riverside Drive project, to design improvements for that intersection.
The $235,000 contract would include traffic analysis, surveying, mapping and other duties.
City plans call for improving the Freeway Drive and College Way signal and adding a westbound right-turn lane on College Way, according to a city Public Works Department memo. The improvements are expected to be particularly necessary when the new Wal-Mart Superstore on Freeway Drive opens.
Developers for that project are doing additional street work, including the widening of the Interstate 5 off-ramps at College Way, according to the memo.
Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at ewilson@skagit valleyherald.com.
