CITY FOCUS:

What was once a contentious battle over the appearance of Dog Beach has finally become a deal expected to settle the matter permanently.

The Friends of Dog Beach and the city have come to a compromise on how the nonprofit group can sell merchandise on the popular spot for canines.

It’s a deal much like what the city has with the Friends of Shipley Nature Center or the Council on Aging.

“We decided to work out what the city will expect of us and what we will expect from the city,” said the society’s President Martin Senat. “Dog Beach is going to be here for a very long time.”

The Friends of Dog Beach help educate visitors to keep dogs safe and clean up messes, but some had called their own promotional booths a mess themselves. Under the deal, the society can still sell its Dog Beach shirts and other merchandise at all three major entrances to the beach on weekends. But now the organization’s sales tables will be replaced by covered booths, ending the biggest part of the dispute between the city and the Friends of Dog Beach.

The argument began in June, when the city community services department said it received complaints from the public that the group’s tables looked like a “garage sale.” Community Services Director Jim Engle sent the group a letter telling them to cut down to a single sales table or leave altogether.

Senat waged a grass-roots campaign against the perceived threat of closing, encouraging supporters of the beach to send thousands of e-mails and letters to City Council members. He said cutting down to a single booth would kill the group’s ability to raise money and do its job: making the 11-year-old beach safe for dogs and humans; he also contended he had city permits for all three locations, which Engle eventually agreed with after conferring with the Marine Safety Division.

A deal has been under negotiations since that time, Senat said.

The city Community Services Commission approved the deal unanimously last week, and it is ultimately headed to the City Council for approval.