A new proposal to ban dogs, leashed or otherwise, from all Barrington parks or outdoor athletic facilities is a surprising departure from the normal course of local government. From all we can gather, a single incident involving one dog, its feisty owner, and one Little League baseball coach, is the impetus for an expansive new law that would negatively impact thousands of Barrington residents and their canine companions.

The incident happened on a Thursday evening, between a youth baseball coach cleaning up after a game, and a man who showed up after the game had ended to let his dog run free within the fenced-in Chianese field. The two exchanged words — the coach letting the dog owner know that you’re not supposed to set dogs free on ball fields — and the whole affair was promptly reported to town authorities.

Literally within hours, the town manager was drafting a revision to town ordinance, making it clear that dogs are not allowed at ball fields — ever. The hastily written amendment, which was introduced to the Barrington Town Council four days later, is sweeping, vague and poorly planned. Questions are plenty.

The new law would outlaw dogs “during any time that such park or recreation area has been approved by the Town for use by any sports league, group, or other association.” How is a dog owner supposed to know when those times are? Does ‘any time’ refer to specific times of day, or specific times of the year?

The proposed law makes no mention of leashes, thus it would apply to all dogs. So if passed, no one could bring a leashed dog to a sporting event anymore? This would have sweeping impact, since every outdoor sporting event in town — from youth soccer games to high school field hockey games — has one, five or a dozen leashed dogs accompanying their owners to the spectator areas. We’ve recently seen dozens of leashed and well-behaved dogs at the high school’s Victory Field, at every youth field, at the new middle school fields … basically anywhere a kid is chasing, hitting, throwing or catching a ball.

Most alarmingly, when asked about leashed dogs in the spectator areas, the town manager suggested the town would not enforce the ordinance on those people. So the new law would apply to only some people? The implications are troubling.

We do not want our government passing laws with sweeping impact after knee-jerk inspiration. We do not want our government passing laws that it intentionally plans to enforce selectively.

When it considers this proposal next month, the town council has no choice but to slow this down and study the issue properly. First, what is the actual problem here? Is it a systemic, chronic issue, or a singular incident blown out of proportion? Secondly, how can it best be addressed? By enforcing the current leash and dog waste laws already on the books, or crafting a smart ordinance that does not inadvertently outlaw the behaviors of thousands of Barrington residents?