When discussions began about restricting pet access to playing fields, town and Parks and Recreation officials were talking about banning dogs from all athletic complexes. That plan has since been reigned in.

Parks and Rec representatives presented a revised set of suggestions to the Board of Selectmen on Monday night, having changed their perspective slightly after talking with other area towns that have wrestled with the same issue.

"We've clarified our thinking on it even further," said Parks and Rec Commission Chairwoman Christine Finkelstein. "What we're looking for now is a complete prohibition of dogs on the Wilton High School athletic complex."

That sounds severe but Finkelstein pointed out that the majority of the town's pet problems fall in the area of Veterans Memorial Stadium and the surrounding fields and bleachers. While she acknowledged that most pet owners are very responsible, a few residents tend to let their dogs off their leashes and fail to properly curb them on the athletic turf and in the stands, leaving pet waste for others to pick up.

Finkelstein noted, however, that they would like to reduce the previously discussed 50-75 foot ban around all other playing fields to only 25 feet and leave it to the discretion of Parks and Rec officials to allow pets around fields on certain occasions. She added that they had talked to neighboring towns and found similarities in all their approaches.

"One common theme that ran through each town is that it's a very volatile issue and not something that any of them take lightly," she said.

"It was interesting to me that, almost without exception, other tows said that it was one of the toughest issues for them," said Parks and Rec Director Steve Pierce. "It's almost a no-win situation...they all find it difficult to enforce, whether they have something on the books or not."

First Selectman Bill Brennan, meanwhile, seemed reticent to go ahead with an ordinance amendment, wondering if perhaps there was an easier way to get people to be more responsible with their pets without having to draft legislation.

"We've got a few people that violate the law and just don't do what they should do," he said. "Is there some position that could allow us to accomplish this without a huge broad ban on all these fields? Is there something that's less onerous?"

Finkelstein responded that that was part of the impetus for decreasing the suggested ban distance outside of the WHS athletic complex.

"That's part of the reason that we reduced the buffer from 50 to 25 feet...we're not anti-dog. The issue is the minortiy of people are the problem...the vast majority of people are considerate, they get it. But we've got a maintenance issue, people bringing their dogs into the stadium, we've had dogs fighting on the sidelines, we have youth referees being called upon to serve as dog police...reducing the buffer we think is a step in the right direction."

Other selectmen shared Brennan's concern and said the issue needed further review, including a need to be very precise with any amendment to an ordinance that the town may adopt.

"If we're going to tell people where they can't go, I think we need to be very clear about where they can go," selectmen Hal Clark said.