Proposed Pool Law Goes To the Dogs

Councilman Dominick Stanzione didn't find the support he had been hoping for regarding a proposal to mandate portable steps be placed in pools without any egress, which he said would help insure the safety of children and dogs who might fall into the water.

During a work session on Tuesday, the other four members of the East Hampton Town Board passed on bringing the resolution to a public hearing.

Stanzione, who has neither a dog nor a pool, had said he brought forth the legislation on the request of an East Hampton couple whose dog drowned after falling into a pool without steps.

There are over 6,000 pools in the Town of East Hampton, according to town records, but it is not clear how many of them were built without steps. Such portable, removable steps could run as much as $500.

"Unless you're training your dog on egress, he wouldn't know where to step," said Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, who often talks about his love for Sophie, his black Lab. He added that he had asked some veterinarians about the idea. "They said the best device you have is a fence."

Fences around pools are mandated in the New York State Building Code, as well as the town code. However, John Jilnicki, the town attorney, said the building inspector can't do anything other than issue summonses to the property owner if they are non-compliant.

The dog-step legislation was an amendment to the code regarding pool fenes and included two other amendments, one of which would have allowed the building inspector to take corrective action to put up a fence, instead of just writing a ticket. The other amendment would have allowed for bringing contractors who install pools without a fence to be in violation and risk their contractor license.

While Stanzione conceded that dogs, and some young children, might not know to look for the stairs he was proposing be mandated, he felt "some degree of action could be beneficial to our community."

Councilwoman Sylvia Overby said she felt making homeowners buy $500 steps was unnecessary. While she found it unsettling when Jilnicki said some homeowners take the fence down after receiving a Certificate of Occupancy because they don't like the look of it, she said she wants to see the law enforced.

Still, she said, "Let the dog owner be responsible," for not letting the dog run to another property with a pool.

"In spite of Dominick's good intentions," Wilkinson said he couldn't support the bill, though he joked that Stanzione was East Hampton's very own St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.