Do You Think Dogs Should Be Allowed in Fort Lee Parks? [POLL]

It has been an ongoing debate among some borough residents, but presently, dogs are prohibited from all parks in the Borough of Fort Lee.

On Thursday, Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said he believes the borough should consider “allowing some dogs in a few of our parks.”

“We don’t allow dogs in any of these parks,” said Sokolich, who’s a dog owner himself. “You’ll have to put stanchions up with the bags, and we’ll have to police it. And I will tell you it’ll cause some problems. But I’m not aware of a town in the free world that doesn’t allow [dogs] in every single one of its parks other than this town.”

Sokolich said he put the item on the Mayor and Council’s executive session agenda, but the governing body ultimately tabled further discussion Thursday because not all members were present at the meeting.

Sokolich did not however provide an update on building a dog park, something he has talked about several times in recent months.

In October 2011, for example, he told a group of students at that he “if I could find the right spot.”

Later in the year, it appeared borough officials had found the right spot—the end of Central Road near the Palisades Interstate Parkway—and that plans were underway, according to a NorthJersey.com report.

“I actually pulled [the DPW] back because I didn't want to rush it; I wanted it done the right way,” Sokolich told the Fort Lee Suburbanite. “We have all the designs, and we have all the schematics done, and we're going to obtain grants and do it in-house with the exception of fencing.”

And few months later, , when the governing body discussed a roughly 1.5-acre piece of land near the George Washington Bridge toll plaza off Bruce Reynolds Boulevard that officials wanted back from the Port Authority.

The mayor said then that if the borough were successful in that regard, the land could be flattened out and transformed into “a destination to walk to … or a dog park.”

“I don’t want to lose track of the dog park,” Sokolich said in early February. “I want to get refocused on that.”

Meanwhile, frustrated dog owners in the borough will just have to wait.

“I am a licensed dog owner and live in Fort Lee,” said one such person in an email to Patch. “Dogs are not permitted in any park in Fort Lee although there are over FIVE HUNDRED dog owners with licenses.”

Take our polls below, and tell us what you think in the comments section.