Council votes against creating off-leash areas in existing city parks
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on April 19, 2023.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com Lethbridge city council on Tuesday unanimously closed the gate on creating new off-leash dog parks at existing city parks.But the potential still exists for new off-leash spaces to be created in the future.
Council supported a motion put forward by councillor Belinda Crowson – the chair of the Civic Works Standing Policy Committee – that it, working with BILD,land developers and land owners “will look at opportunities when outline plans, or amendments to outline plans, come forward to consider appropriate areas for future dog parks.”
The motion calls for council to direct administration to work with landowners and developers “to develop criteria and design standards for new dog parks” and for council to “direct Opportunity Lethbridge to identify City-owned under-utilized land that may be appropriate for future dog parks.”
An update provided earlier this month to the Civic Works SPC showed that survey results made clear the public largely is not favourable to new off-leash parks at the majority of six potential locations identified by the City.
The most favourable responses were for Nicholas Sheran Park on the westside and 28 St. N.
Acting Mayor Ryan Parker, who actually presented the idea of creating new off-leash areas within existing parks in November of 2021 right after the present council was elected, told council he seemed to be “the poster boy” for the matter and that a mountain developed over a molehill on the issue.
“The whole idea was maybe we could introduce a smaller dog park, maybe a dog park the size of this room, in parks throughout the community so people have an opportunity to allow their animals to visit . . .and also maybe a trial in Nicholas Sheran.”
He said the City asked for feedback and got it but he’s concerned a lot was based on misinformation and misunderstanding.
“We went through a process of listening to the community and when you listen, you have to take action. Sometimes you may not like what you hear but it’s important that it go through the communication process,” Parker added.
“I think the community should be reassured their voices were heard, and action was taken and I think a compromise is being presented in this resolution,” Parker said.
Mayor Blaine Hyggen said “we engaged, we were transparent, we went out to the community and we asked and it was important that we did that. Although I think it’s great to have additional ones, I think planning is of importance and we learned a lot through the process.”
Councillor Jeff Carlson said he was reticent to support the motion – saying it maintains the status quo – but the third clause of the resolution about the potential identification of under-utilized land gave him some hope for the future.
Crowson said the public had mixed responses about putting off-leash areas in existing parks with “a real concern in the community” being dog owners not picking up after their four-legged companions in designated off-leash areas or other places.
“That is a broader concern that we need to also at some point consider looking into and working with our Communications department on ensuring people recognize that every time they don’t pick up after their dog, they are breaking the law whether it’s in dog parks or not.”
Crowson told council “at this point what we’ve heard from the engagement is it’s better to spend our time and effort on improving the ones that we have, making sure they have proper amenities, making sure they have seeding, making sure they have washrooms, et cetera than adding more.”
She said 28 St. N. and Nicholas Sheran Park could be considered as under-utilized land.
Bridget Mearns of BILD addressed the dog park matter at the request of Deputy Mayor John Middleton-Hope who asked her if she’d received any concerns in regards to use of land in new developments and the potential impact parks could have on builders.
“That really hasn’t been discussed. When a developer is developing a neighbourhood they have to take all of these things into consideration so we need to be part, and the developer needs to be part, of determining what’s in that development,” said Mearns.
“Certainly we’re willing to have that conversation. Where do they belong? Where don’t they belong? What do they look like? What’s the level of service that’s expected in the community? How is the City going to maintain that after we’ve handed it over after the warranty period? All of these things have to be thoroughly considered before we just say they should be in new development,” said Mearns. Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter 4
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