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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Council considers allowing horses on Ocean City's beach

town discussion about whether to allow horseback riding on Ocean City's beach will fill a slot on today's Town Council meeting agenda.
The possibility was raised in 2011 by Councilman Brent Ashley, who thinks allowing horses on the beach during the fall and winter months would boost off-season tourism. Wildwood, N.J., recently passed an ordinance allowing horses on its beaches, which initially gave Ashley the idea.
Ashley has suggested a once-a-year fee for people to ride on the beach as often as they'd like.
Diana Chavis, an office associate at City Hall, has assembled information on other beach areas that allow horseback riding and some information on what the town would have to do to enact an ordinance to allow it.
Changes to a city code referencing non-domesticated animals would be needed to allow horses on the beach, according to City Solicitor Guy Ayres. The town would also have to consider liability issues. Ocean City Risk Manager Eric Lagstrom recommends at least a hold-harmless agreement or waiver, and he also has health-related concerns about riders not cleaning up after their horses, a concern mirrored by the Ocean City Police Department. In an e-mail included in the agenda packet, Lt. Scott Kirkpatrick recommends the ordinance include language requiring visitors to clean up after their horses, like the one included in the ordinance that allows dogs on the beach from Oct. 1-April 30.
If horses are allowed on the beach, they would be in close proximity to one another, which could result in a dog "spooking a horse and the rider being thrown or falling from his or her mount," Kirkpatrick wrote. OCPD's mounted unit trains with the K-9 unit to become familiar with dogs, he added.
Ocean City's Recreation and Parks Department provided Mayor and interim City Manager Rick Meehan with a comprehensive list of what it thinks the pros and cons of allowing horses on the beach would be. The department thinks there is potential for the program to be successful and to attract new guests to the resort, which would in turn bring additional revenue. It could, however, require a lot of staff resources to help assure its success, as well as open up the town to additional liabilities

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