Dog park advocates are hoping to present a petition with 1,000 signatures to council next month fighting for the original West Valley off-leash dog park location.
Plans for that site were officially squashed last week.
Coun. Jeff Toews clarified the March 13 minutes at this Monday’s council meeting, clarifying confusion over whether or not the north site was still a possibility.
The use of the term “both” in the motion was meant to reference researching the cost of two options for the south site – one including the existing shale pathway in the dog park design the other fencing it off.
“The handling of this has just been a gong show … I’m disappointed with the entire council,” said Jim Uffelmann, dog park advocate.
Mayor Ivan Brooker said that while the north site was identified in the town’s 2012 open spaces master plan, it was only flagged as a possibility at that time.
“Yes it was identified as a potential area, but none of the public consultation had taken place at that point,” said Brooker, adding that the stakeholder (resident) and public engagement sessions revealed too many negatives for the build-out of a dog park and adjacent 33-stall parking lot in the West Aarsby-West McDougall area.
Uffelmann and a number of advocates are circulating a petition to “hold council accountable” and stick to the original location.
The petition – which will be presented to council in April – has been making its way through the off-leash dog park, appearing at a rally held last Thursday at the north site, organized by Uffelmann and fellow advocates. It is also available at Cochrane Veterinary Care Clinic and Pet Valu. The group is confident it can garner the signatures by April 15. Roughly 50 people and their pups attended the rally.
“How can 25 people change that site?” questioned Scott Gibson-Craig. “Is council making decisions for themselves?”
Those advocating for the north off-leash space are furious with council’s move to scrap the site and feel mayor and council are pandering to the vocal residents living adjacent to location who have cited concerns including noise, waste, traffic and security.
They are also concerned that council made this decision two weeks ago – before the online public consultation was scheduled to conclude.
Coun. Jeff Toews, who brought the motion forward March 13, said he did not want to see further delays prevent the park being built this construction season.
Residents like Corey and Lindsay Stickel maintain that living with a parking lot on one side and a dog park on the other would devalue their property and result in a plethora of concerns that could not be mitigated. Advocates of the original site feel this is based on misinformation.
Uffelmann said he is aware of several parks in the City of Calgary that back onto residential homes and none of them included the amenities the town was offering in the proposed north location – extensive landscaping, which includes than 100 trees that would serve as a privacy and sound barrier.
He added that those not in favour of the new site are concerned it would be roughly three acres smaller than the north site. They are also concerned that it interfaces with a multi-use pathway that would have considerable traffic of people carrying take-out food from adjacent restaurants, which carries the potential for conflict between dogs and people.
He also questioned the need for an agility area if it means taking away from the park’s size.
Brooker said people should keep in mind that the original site would have faced a size reduction of park area to allow for the parking lot whereas the south site would retain the five acres, as the existing skate park/soccer field parking lot would be used.
Suzanne Gaida, senior manager for community services for the town, said she anticipates some form of public consultation, following stakeholder (restaurant) and pipeline consultations before the matter is brought back before council June 26.
An Eagle poll indicated out of 159 responses, 49.1 per cent were not in favour of council’s decision, 42.8 per cent felt the south site was a better location for residents and 8.2 per cent don’t feel either site is a suitable location.
The town’s online public consultation revealed approximately 106 people supported the north site, 109 would use it, 32 opposed the site or took issue with either the location, design or cost, and 26 would not use it.
There are about 4,300 licensed dogs in Cochrane.
A poop scoopin’ time
Not everyone would be OK with being nicknamed the poop lady.
But if it means beautifying Cochrane’s open spaces and easing tensions between dog owners and park users frustrated with stepping in dog doo, Kelli Willisko said she will proudly sport that handle.
Willisko recently started a Facebook group, Cochrane Park Clean Up, and is pushing past 45 members who are rolling up their sleeves and pitchin’ in to pick up park poop.
She was inspired to become a poop crusader by observing negative social media commentary on popular Facebook group Cochrane Rants and Raves, with users venting about unwanted parcels scattered in the town’s green spaces.
She and the other volunteers will be working on Sunset Boulevard and Sunset Drive this evening at 5:30 p.m. and tomorrow at 4:30 p.m.
Glenbow parks will be tackled Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.
“We can all sit here and complain or we can come together as a whole,” said the Sunset mother of three and proud owner of Pickles the Labradoodle pup.
To date, they have groomed two Sunset parks, one in Riversong and one in Heartland.
Jim Uffelmann, co-organizer of twice annual Poopalooza – blitz cleanups of the off-leash park – gave a nod to Willisko’s efforts, pointing out that people will often wrongly associate dog defecation left lying around with the Riverview off-leash park, which volunteers largely keep clean.
“Municipal enforcement applauds this community-minded effort,” said Sgt. Charlene Ruttle with municipal enforcement. “Peace officers continue to do their part by having zero tolerance for non-compliance with failure to remove defecation - fines start at $200.”
