Dog park advocates who barked at council’s decision to rescind the first future off-leash dog park site in West Valley - moving it further south and reducing the size of the park - will continue to make sure their voices are heard by the town.
An off-leash advocacy group has been formed and is nearing 20 members.
Spokesperson Jim Uffelmann said members have gotten together a couple of times and will continue to champion for the first site, while gathering petition signatures calling for council to “follow their own procedures and policies with respect to public engagement.”
Uffelmann, a long-time park advocate and user, said their petition is approaching 500 signatures - halfway to its goal of 1000, with the intention to present to council before the matter is brought back June 26.
“We are looking to be fully heard on the initial dog park site. We want them to follow their own policies ... they’re ignoring stakeholders and community-wide engagement.”
One of the initiatives of the advocacy group is forming another group for park clean-up.
Kelli Willisko has headed the Cochrane park clean-up group with an army of volunteers.
Uffelmann said the existing off-leash park is well maintained and that town-wide cleanup is for all garbage, not just dog defecation.
Uffelmann said when the bridge - or what he refers to as an “over-budget boondoggle” - construction ramps up, the impacts to the existing off-leash park will be extensive. He is not in favour of the proposed site move for the new park further south, which will impact the size to roughly five acres from the first site size of eight acres.
For more info, go to Cochrane Dog Park Users Facebook group or contact [email protected].
