Sunday, August 17, 2008
A good dog park requires planning
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English is a retired communications consultant and a resident of Old Southwest.
In order to best assure what NewVAConnects proposes for Highland Park -- "a perfect dog park" -- the community needs input from canine behaviorists and municipal professionals (not just dog owners who want their own park). Veterinarians, dog training professionals, park planners and recreation specialists, landscapers and the city attorney will add necessary experience in locating and designing an off-leash dog park.
Research indicates that an optimum municipal dog park area should be a minimum of three to five acres (in a municipal park no smaller than 100 acres) and must include: fencing of appropriate height, double- or triple-gated entries, separate areas for small and large dogs, water within both areas, concrete "mutt mitt" clean-up stations and signage. The bare bones cost for such a park could easily run $45,000. Considerable additional costs would be incurred for amenities necessary for "the perfect dog park" that Roanoke dog park proponents are touting.
Dog parks have their benefits and their problems. There are dogs that attack other dogs, people who can't discipline their animals, folks who develop a strange blindness when their dog makes a mess, and those who decide they are in charge and have to run the dog park their way.
A main problem, of course, is dog owners who are naive about pack instincts, which can click into high gear when a new animal is introduced to a group of strange dogs. Although this may be resolved by 100 percent attention, the fact is that some dog owners are more interested in their own socialization with other dog owners or too busy on the cellphone to notice aggressive behavior amping up.
Poorly planned and badly maintained dog parks can also be unsightly -- even dangerous. However, planners can avoid many of these problems by choosing currently unutilized sites so as to avoid spillover into non-dog areas.
Although Highland Park is a small neighborhood park (30 acres), it is divided -- by purpose or happenstance -- into several zones of usage. The school and main playground represent the main face of Highland Park, oriented to families and children. Sports of all types are featured on the flat fields at the top of the hill -- the muscle and high physical energy center of the park.
The stage area in Highland Park is already established as a music, festival and performance site. Over the years, the stage area, located in a grassy amphitheater, has been the hub of events that benefited from a raised platform. If there is a performance heart in the Old Southwest neighborhood, it is here, and its history of use is no more compatible with a dog park than is the playground on Fifth Street or the playing field at the top of the hill.
It is this highly visible festival area near the stage that has been targeted by NewVAConnects for an off-leash dog park. Mostly sloping grass, it is an inexpensive option initially, but someone must fence it in and regularly mow it, water it and reseed and repair the holes and ruts.
After some use as a dog park, the soil will become compacted, which makes for poor drainage and mud. In addition, rain runoff will carry fecal bacteria into adjoining public areas. Furthermore, the area is too small, at merely 1 acre, and it would require additional parking, eating away at yet more public park space. In the best of all possible worlds, this area of Highland Park and even Highland Park itself would not be under consideration.
That being said, I believe Old Southwest residents may be able to agree to a well-funded, off-leash dog park pilot program in another area of Highland Park that is underused by Parks and Recreation for storage. This area is flat, already has sufficient parking and is totally fenced at a height preferred by professional public dog park planners.
It has potential to meet criteria such as aesthetics, sufficient flat areas for parking and handicap access (both to the parking and throughout the site itself), zones of compatibility and minimal impact for all others who use the park.
The optimum off-leash dog park is one that would be consistently maintained and manned -- a fee-based facility with staff that can properly screen and enforce park regulations.
It's my hope that in considering Highland Park for an off-leash dog park, sufficient weight will be given by the city to these criteria and to long-term safety and maintenance issues.
