Due to the protests of pet owners, the Knightdale town council delayed voting on an ordinance to fine owners of dogs that bark excessively.

“I’m not sure what to do, but I’m pretty sure what we have ain’t it,” said Knightdale Mayor Russell Killen after hearing from a room full of dog owners protesting the ordinance.

The council will meet before its Aug. 3 meeting to revise the proposed law.

As introduced Monday, the ordinance calls for a $50 penalty for owners of dogs who “bark, bay, cry, howl or make any other noise intermittently” for a half an hour.

The ordinance also cites owners who don’t keep dogs in a sanitary condition. But pet owners who spoke before council didn’t think the ordinance went far enough to assure a dog’s humane treatment.

“There’s sometimes a reason a dog barks,” said Reba Pendleton who lives in downtown Knightdale.

Pendleton said a barking dog could be in distress or merely playing.

She suggested putting a time limit on when a dog barking was considered disturbing — before 7 a.m. or after 9 p.m.

“I’m trying to be a responsible pet owner,” she said.

Paula Gavasto, of 418 Mingocrest Drive, said the ordinance needed to prohibit people from keeping an animal on a chain or in an unsuitable shelter.

Other pet owners said they didn’t see why barking dogs should be singled out over other types of noise addressed in the town’s noise ordinance.

But Douglas Fishman said an ordinance was needed.

He said his neighbor’s dog’s constant barking kept him from sleep.

“Basically, it’s gotten to the point that we’re not neighborly,” he said.

Killen said the town’s public safety committee recommended the regulation after residents complained that barking dogs were a nuisance.

Knightdale town Attorney Clyde Holt said the proposed ordinance levies civil penalties, but that offenders could be cited criminally if fines were ignored.

The Knightdale Town Council has authorized the condemnation of the property on which a pump station under construction sits at the Neuse River and Hodge Road.

JDH Riverview Commons of Charlotte that planned to build a commercial and residential development at Poole and Hodge Roads misplaced an easement before it was recorded, Town Attorney Clyde Holt told the Town Council  Wednesday.

The 3,600 square-foot parcel is held in a trust. The trustees are Thomas and Iris Tilley of Chapel Hill, Holt said.

Holt told the council that the Tilleys want to connect their nearby mobile home park to the town’s sewer line in exchange for the easement.

The mobile home park is outside of the town of Knightdale.

“We can’t wait on that process (annexation proceedings) for the easement,” Holt said Thursday.

“I will contact the Tilleys again and see if we can achieve this through a voluntary conveyance,” Holt said. “ If not, unfortunately we will have to file a condemnation. That sewer line is going to serve all of the property on Poole Road between Wendell and Raleigh. It’s just a tremendous public deterrent to not moving this project along.”

Holt said he estimated the market value of the property at $5,000 and that the Tilleys would receive that amount.

The Tilleys were unable to be reached.

Knightdale has been in negotiation with JDH Riverview Commons for over a year, trying to get the pump station finished.

The lost easement is the latest in a series of delays.

A subdivision planned for the property adjacent to JDH’s development can’t pump its sewer across the Neuse River until the pump station is complete.

Developer David Menaker of Menaker and Associates has asked the council to take action because he said he can’t build without sewer.

Menaker completed a $800,000, 30-inch .7 mile, water line to the corner of Hodge and Poole road for city water to lots at his subdivision, JDH’s development and Knightdale residents who live nearby.

He was reimbursed $400,000 by the city of Raleigh for the line.

Menaker said the delays with the pump station have cost him $10,000 a lot and $400,000 in interest.