Wollongong City Council's vote has gone to the dogs, so to speak, with staff recommending man's best friend be allowed to keep frolicking unleashed on northern suburbs beaches.
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The proposal - for there to be no change to off-leash beach zonings throughout the city - comes after nearly four months of heated protests and social media campaigning, mostly from the pro-dogs-on-beaches lobby group "Unleash Our Beaches".
Group spokeswoman Donna Bennett said she was "ecstatic" to read the council's recommendation, published on Monday, which would continue to allow dogs to roam free on Sharkeys, McCauleys, Little Austinmer and Stanwell Park beaches.
"People have put their lives on hold to fight this, so you would think common sense will prevail," she said.
Several changes to the council's dogs on beaches policy were proposed in July, with councillors saying they needed to reach a compromise between residents who walked their dogs and those who did not agree with dogs having access to beaches.
During the exhibition process the council received about 2000 submissions and two petitions with about 3000 signatures, the vast majority of which supported the existing beach zones.
Now, staff have published three options for councillors to consider next week - one of which includes removing the off-leash areas from the contentious northern beaches - but clearly state the "no change" option is the one to pick.
Ms Bennett said she had confidence most councillors would endorse the recommended motion as she believed they had been persuaded by the strong opposition to change.
"I'm incredibly proud of what we have done, and I hope the Illawarra dog community can put up some initiatives and improvements in the future," she said.
"I think what we've achieved is great, and perhaps we can all band together for another community project or cause in the future."
In addition to their recommendation about beaches, staff have suggested a new off-leash park be developed in the Dapto area and said extra signage and colour-coded fences should be install throughout the region.
The documents also include a tally of its dogs on beaches survey results, which reveal more than half the respondents came from the 2015 postcode covering Thirroul, Austinmer and Coledale, while about 10 per cent came from Bulli and 9 per cent from Woonona and Stanwell Park.
Councillors will vote on the dogs on beaches policy on November 24.