Dog park change shelved for now

By Collin Gallant on August 21, 2018.

Alyssa Lattery and Steele Howard walk their dogs, Ramona and Hunter, in the Kin Coullee off-leash area on Monday night. A notebook petition that's been left at the site asked users to express their objections to a proposed fenced dog park in the area, as administrators argue creekbeds and archeological sites in the vicinity need protection.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

A proposal to fence off an area for off-leash dog activity near the Saamis Archeological site has been sent back to city committee with Medicine Hat City councillors calling the measure “too drastic.”

A committee had heard earlier this month that in the goal of helping to preserve historical resources and creek beds of the Seven Persons Creek beneath the Saamis Tepee, the city should restrict current off-leash activities.

An online petition against the move had 4,400 respondents as of Monday afternoon, and a petition also sat at the site where dog walkers have let their pets roam for about 30 years.

Councillors, who said they had heard strong feedback on the issue, debated the recommendation at length Monday before public services committee chair Coun. Julie Friesen said the issue clearly needs more study.

The city is legally required to protect the provincially designated historic site — evidence of a 4,000-year-old campsite as well as more recent, pre-European encampments and buffalo slaughter are well documented, she said.

“We have to be responsible, but it’s been many years (as a dog park),” she said, stressing she’d like to see other options.

Coun. Phil Turnbull said “sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.”

“These are far too drastic until we have a study.”

The 36-hectare (90-acre) site was designated by the province in 1984 as an historic site. Last year, the city opened a fenced off-leash area in Saratoga Park, below Scholten Hill, and a similar plan, they say, would give dog owners some space while limiting damage to other reaches of the coulee site.

City CAO Merete Heggelund said the situation is complex because two issues are involved. First, the Southeast Alberta Watershed Alliance has a grant to repair and protect creekbeds after numerous floods over the past decade.

Secondly, the province began investigating public complaints about protections for the historic sites in early summer.

The fenced park was meant to be a temporary solution as longer-term solutions were studied, she said.