Another Johnson County city rethinks its ban on pit bulls

Prairie Village is reconsidering its ban on residents owning pit bulls within city limits, reflecting a nationwide shift in opinion on the effectiveness of breed-specific dog ordinances.

The City Council on Monday voted to put the pit bull ordinance on a future agenda for discussion after Caitlin O’Toole, representing more than a dozen residents in the audience, asked for the ban to be repealed.

O’Toole said information some council members have used to defend the ban came from online sources that are unreliable and biased against certain dog breeds.

“While using fear to keep the breed-specific legislation may be effective, there is no reliable evidence that banning pit bulls has any effect on dog bites in any given area,” she said.

Councilman Eric Mikkelson pushed for the matter to come back this summer. He noted that Shawnee recently scrapped its own ordinance, leaving Prairie Village one of only three cities in Johnson County that ban pit bulls, the others being Overland Park and Leawood.

He said that the discussion wouldn’t necessarily lead to Prairie Village welcoming pit bulls back but that the council should hear more from O’Toole’s group, as well as from law enforcement and other experts.

“I’ve heard enough that there’s a significant question in my mind that we may have an inappropriate ordinance on our books that we need to take a hard look at,” Mikkelson said.

Many cities across the country in years past have implemented bans or ownership restrictions on certain dog breeds that were known for causing serious injuries or deaths among humans and other animals. These have generally targeted pit bulls but have also banned or restricted American bulldogs, Rottweilers, chows, Doberman Pinschers, wolf-dog hybrids and others.

Some of these cities, however, have later chosen to remove those restrictions and more than a dozen states have blocked local governments’ ability to enforce breed-specific ordinances, arguing that a dog’s owner has more influence over its behavior than genetics.

Mikkelson said the city has a “dangerous dog” ordinance to deal with true problem animals. This law allows animal control officers to label a dog or cat involved in an attack on a human or other animal “dangerous,” forcing the owner to remove the animal from city limits or meet a stringent — and expensive — list of requirements.

Pet owners who disagree with the designation can appeal to the City Council itself.

On Monday, the council heard one of those appeals as Kendall and Patty Schaaf sought to overturn a “dangerous dog” designation made against their German Shepherd mix, Otto, after the dog seriously injured a Daschund in March. While the couple admitted Otto attacked the other dog and that they have paid for the Daschund’s medical expenses, they rejected claims of a previous attack against another neighbor’s dog last year that officers said contributed to the “dangerous” designation.

“I think the decision was made in good faith but it was made using bad information,” Kendall Schaaf said.

With no witnesses attending the meeting to corroborate the 2015 attack, the council voted 7-4 to overrule the animal control officer.

Some council members said they hoped the discussion about the breed-specific ordinance would also look at ways to deal with animals that are guilty of an attack but don’t meet the requirements to be designated “dangerous.”

“This is where our dangerous dog ordinance is awful if we’re going to continue to do this,” said Councilwoman Courtney McFadden.

In other business, the council authorized City Administrator Quinn Bennion to sign an agreement with Google Fiber Kansas LLC to provide television services in Prairie Village.

The city will receive a 5 percent franchise fee from the company for the cable service. Google is also rolling out high-speed Internet access to the area, but federal law prevents the city from charging the company for that.

Council members also approved a resolution asking the Johnson County Park & Recreation District to either preserve or rebuild the Meadowbrook Golf Course and Country Clubhouse at 9101 Nall Ave. as a community activity center as part of the development of the Meadowbrook Park.

The park district’s board in March voted to demolish the 1974-era building, saying it would cost too much to renovate and meet modern accessibility standards. But that decision has been put on hold while the district tries to determine whether it will renovate the building, replace it with a new building or remove it and leave the site vacant. There currently is no money budgeted for a new building, but the board is scheduled to consider options during a meeting Wednesday.

“It was our understanding that either this building or a replacement would be offered to the residents,” said Councilwoman Jori Nelson.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 10:51 AM with the headline "Another Johnson County city rethinks its ban on pit bulls."