Olson Park

I haven't gotten the details from last night's Olson Park meeting yet, but I drove out to see the place. My thoughts aren't solid yet and I welcome any new facilities for off-leash play.

Having said that, I was struck with just how far away from almost everything Olson Park is. Driving there you pass the sign indicating that you have left the city of Ann Arbor and entered the township. I understand that the park is half owned by the water authority. All of this seems oddly familiar to the Swift Run project which is on the farthest edge of town and not solely a property of A2Parks & Rec. The bureaucratic complications that come with such a joint project are largely to blame for the Swift Run slow-downs.

I also noticed that most of Olson Park is in wildflowers and set up as a water-conservation landscape. I'm not sure where the proposed off-leash area would be, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear later down the road that the whole area is too environmentally fragile for such a project.

Edit: Sandy D informs us in comments that Olson is a former gravel pit. This explains its unique landscape and also suggests that environmental fragility will NOT be a problem. Yay.

It is my understanding that Olson was chosen because there is some maintenance/upgrade money in its budget that may be available for an off-leash area. I appreciate Parks & Rec trying to get creative with funding sources, but it seems like they keep choosing the most marginal and complicated locations. It is hard to believe that dog-owners are taken seriously as a group to be served rather than tolerated when every proposal that we see puts us as far out of the way as possible and is filled with complications.

Remember, the Ward Park proposal, which would have been fairly central and simple, was not shut down because of public outcry as some reports have suggested. It was not possible because Parks was not willing to provide the necessary funds to satisfy the concerns of dog-owners and neighbors.

I'll withhold final judgment on Olson Park until I hear more details. Even if it is imperfect I would welcome an off-leash area at any park as long as it won't be used down the road to deny us something more ideal. Right now, it would also be nice see the limited resources they are willing to offer us go to plans that will be most immediately implementable and have the most positive effect.