Speak Up For Dog Parks!
Last summer, you all rallied to support dog parks in the Parks District funding process. More people wrote to the Parks District Board about off-leash space than any other issue, and as a result the budget was modified to set aside $3.46 million for dog parks!
Since then, Seattle Parks & Recreation has compiled a list of nine potential sites, and is looking for feedback on which two to develop first. The feedback process is open through July 31st, so this week is the time to weigh in if you haven’t done so already. This page has more information on the process, and you can access the feedback form directly with this link.
While COLA was consulted for advice during this process, much of it was ignored. SPR has indicated that the sites identified in the process will guide future development beyond the current Parks District funding. This feedback process is a great opportunity to let the parks department know that their plan has significant shortcomings to solve the lack of off-leash space.
- The largest candidate off-leash area is barely half an acre, and the smallest is a quarter acre, even though many of the candidate sites have plenty of room for 1+ acre OLAs. If this is important to you, note it on individual sites in the survey!
- It’s not enough. Even if all nine sites were built, we still lag far behind our peer cities like Vancouver, Portland, and San Francisco.
- SPR has excluded beach access from potential sites for environmental regions, even though extensive monitoring of existing dog beaches in the region has demonstrated that this isn’t an issue
- The plan doesn’t consider expansion of existing overcrowded dog parks as an option to increase the utility of the dog park system
- The plan doesn’t consider any sites on any non-SPR public land, even though there is opportunity on WSDOT and City Light properties, and both those agencies have indicated a willingness to work with SPR
Fill Out The SPR Survey
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