Council to Offer Its Own Leash Law

A Hermosa Beach City Council majority, contending that a group of dog owners is seeking an exemption from the leash law under the guise of an open-space initiative, has added its own ballot measure. It would designate a 20-acre railroad right of way as parkland but ban unleashed dogs from the strip.

The council-sponsored measure for the November ballot was adopted on a split vote Tuesday. It will compete with the initiative circulated by Watchdog, a group that formed in March after the council decided to apply the leash law on the Santa Fe Railway right of way once the city acquires ownership later this year.

Both initiatives would designate the railroad strip as open space that could never be used for residential, commercial or other development.

However, the Watchdog initiative, which easily qualified for the ballot, would allow unleashed dogs on the strip, whereas the council measure would bar them.