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HOA, town at odds overfree-roaming cats
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The Artemina homeowners association has asked Gilbert to look into establishing an ordinance that would hold cat owners just as accountable as dog owners when it comes to where their pets relieve themselves.
"I think the town should do something, because we're not the only HOA that deals with this issue," said Jason Harris, the HOA board secretary and a resident of the north Gilbert neighborhood. "And non-HOA communities I'm sure have this sort of problem."
The problem is free-roaming cats urinating and defecating in neighbor's yards.
Harris and a handful of surrounding neighbors said the problem is with one particular homeowner, but the issue has come up from time to time for years.
"This homeowner has been approached on several occasions about the cats, and their response has always been, 'There's other cats in the neighborhood,' " Harris said.
But despite the HOA's request for an ordinance, Gilbert officials said the best solution is for the organization to enact its own more strict regulation to deal with the cat problem.
The town has no plans to enact a cat ordinance at this time, town spokesman Greg Svelund said.
Dog owners are required by law to clean up after their pets, but the town's leash law makes enforcing that easier since owners are generally easily associated with the offending canine. But since there's no leash law for cats, enforcing a cat-waste law would be difficult, officials said.
The town has received four complaints in the last five years regarding cats at large, which also suggests a new law isn't necessary, Svelund said.
As for the Artemina neighborhood, the HOA board plans to move forward next week with tighter restrictions that will require cat owners to clean up after their pets or face written warnings and fines.
Of course, enforcement of the rule will require proof that a resident's cat illegally defecated on a neighbor's yard. But Harris isn't worried about that.
"Pictures tell a thousand words," Harris said.
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