As La Plata County’s population has steadily grown in recent years, the concurrent challenges of adding more people – and their dogs – to the community’s rural areas require attention from policymakers. What may have been a non-issue in outlying areas 20 or even 10 years ago is now causing neighborhood strife beyond city limits. Chronically barking, whining and howling dogs have long been an issue of concern for dense in-town neighborhoods, with a city of Durango ordinance disallowing the nuisance. The county, though, has stayed silent on the matter, giving aggrieved residents no legal recourse to settle the matter. It is time the county catch up with its growing demographics and provide a framework for dealing with noise nuisances. An ordinance in the works would do so and the La Plata County Board of Commissioners should add it to the books.

The county’s draft ordinance adds nuisance barking to its chapter on animals, weighing in on a growing problem for residents who now have nowhere to turn for help in silencing their neighbors’ dogs. Dogs would be in violation if they bark continuously for 20 minutes during the day, 15 minutes at night, or 90 cumulative minutes in a 24-hour period. These are wholly reasonable thresholds, and a county resident who regularly endures such noise nuisance should have means to address it.

The ordinance provides recourse in a clever manner: It would require complainants to gather evidence of the offending behavior and report it to La Plata County Animal Control, which, upon confirming the nuisance, would issue a warning to the pet’s owner who would be required to remedy the situation or face a citation. By requiring neighbors to document the incidents, the ordinance both saves county resources and discourage frivolous complaints. Furthermore, the ordinance requires a signed affidavit from two neighbors before animal control issues a citation, unless there is only one neighbor within 500 feet of the loud dog’s home. The county would not act on anonymous complaints. The ordinance expresses some sympathy for offending dogs as well, particularly with the “defense” clause: “provocation of a dog is an affirmative defense to any charge of nuisance barking under these regulations.” Fair enough: Residents cannot bait animals into bad behavior.

These stipulations suggest that the ordinance would be used to address situations that truly require a remedy – not simply to foment neighborhood discord.

Of course the best scenario for quieting barking dogs is for neighbors to discuss the matter and solve it without involvement from law enforcement. That is not always possible, though, and ensuring that county residents have a process by which to address the problem when face-to-face efforts fail is appropriate and becoming increasingly necessary as the community grows.

The county is attempting to strike a balance between providing a framework for resolving neighborhood conflicts and not overstepping into residents’ lives. The draft noise nuisance ordinance does that well and should help keep the peace among neighbors throughout La Plata County.