Second Ward Park Planning Meeting Scheduled

The second meeting (PDF) to discuss the proposal for an off-leash area at Ward Park has been scheduled.

Tuesday May 29, 2007
7:00PM
Ann Arbor Church of Christ
2500 S Main Street

The meeting is intended to cover more details of a proposed run at this site. If successful, it will serve as the Pilot for the community dog run program.

If you are interested in seeing this proposal become a reality, this is your chance to have productive input.

If you want the city to realize any of its dog run plans, this is a good chance to make your voice heard.

At the last community meeting there was a very small but very vocal group of people who were opposed to the plan, some of whom were opposed to the idea of off-leash play areas altogether. A strong showing from people in favor of these plans will demonstrate that we are a significant and active segment of the park-using community. We also need to make our presence known to demand that action be taken quickly and the foot-dragging end. If it looks like the dog-owning community is apathetic, it is unlikely that we will have a safe and legal play area this summer.


If you can't make the meeting, consider contacting Amy Kuras (information on flyer linked above) to let her know your thoughts.

Canine Social Club Web Page

It's back up and running.

The CSC has a formal relationship with the city and they have collaborated in the planning process that got us this far. So watch that site for new information and developments.

Long Time A-Coming

Just in case you're curious about how long Ann Arbor has been dragging its feet on the dog park issue, here is a selection from a city council meeting of almost 10 years ago:

October 20, 1997 (PDF) -

Councilmember Vereen-Dixon reported that the Parks Advisory Commission is proposing a Dog/Park Committee, and will submit a report to Council in February.

Parking Thoughts and Another Proposal

In going over the various plans for neighborhood dog parks and discussing possible temporary solutions, we have discussed the parking issue extensively. How the city considers any of their proposed neighborhood sites to have adequate parking has been a real head-scratcher.

Given their track record, it is tempting to believe that they are deliberately choosing sites with too little parking because 1) they know that they will never be approved and they won't have to move on to the next step, 2) they don't actually want to provide a facility that can be used effectively, or 3) the people doing the planning have never been to a dog park and don't have any idea what's going to happen there.

Although I'm sure foot-dragging and unfamiliarity have some influence, I actually think there is a different reason. As near as I can tell, the Ward Park plan is supposed to be a pilot for a bigger system. Eventually, if I'm understanding correctly, Ann Arbor is envisioned to have Swift Run as a major city/regional node as well as small neighborhood off-leash areas like Ward Park scattered throughout the city. Wouldn't that be wonderful!

In that situation, the neighborhood parks wouldn't need much parking. A half-dozen spaces would be more than enough as most people using them could walk and the great bulk of people driving to a dog park would go to the larger Swift Run facility. Thus the curb space at Ward Park and the small parking lot at South maple are considered "adequate parking."

Unfortunately, those places do not have adequate parking to serve as the temporary city-wide solution while Swift Run remains in bureaucratic limbo. Even the temporary solution I offered last week is really no good in light of the parking problem.

I still think a temporary fence somewhere is an ideal solution both for dog owners and for the city who wants to see a park in practice before opening it's flagship park.

So instead of Ward or South Maple, why not consider something that already has ample parking? There are a number of parks that fit the bill - Buhr and West Parks spring to mind. However, I don't think those are realistic because of the long community meeting process that would no doubt be involved.

Instead I'd suggest the Southeast Area Park, although it is very inconvenient for most Ann Arbor residents, right across the street from Swift Run at Platte and Ellsworth. The advantage of this otherwise inconvenient location is that it is in the same neighborhood as Swift Run so presumably the public meeting process doesn't need to be repeated. Also, unlike Ward Park there are almost no neighbors immediately next to the park. There are some very large parking lots already at Southeast including a gravel lot that seems to be blocked off most of the time but could serve as overflow. It also has some large unused areas including a mowed area along the west edge. I've marked these in yellow in the map on the right.

A temporary fence, a sign, and a trash can is all it would take to provide an off-leash area here. It is a very imperfect plan, especially given the distance from most of Ann Arbor's population, but at least it's something.

Ann Arbor Voices

Christina, who some of you know, had an op/ed published yesterday in the Ann Arbor News "Voices" section. If you missed it in print, you can read it here.

She addresses quite well some of the more rational concerns that dog park opponents have. She also invites concerned residents to visit a dog park and see first hand what one looks like. I know some people will never be swayed - some just don't like dogs, others don't like dog owners, and some simply don't want anything new in their neighborhoods. But a visit to Saline's Mill Pond Park should end any visions of canine Thunderdome for those who just don't know what to expect.

The online version doesn't include the picture of Christina, Charlie, and Sadie so I've posted it at the right.

Dial-Up

I'm visiting family now and only have access to dial-up internet. I can't be tying up their phone lines all the time so there won't be any more posts here until I get back to A^2 this weekend. I have lots of thoughts and some ideas I'd like to post so I'm looking forward to that.

In the mean time, watch for an editorial in the Ann Arbor News "Voices" section by one of our local residents who has had enough with the foot-dragging by the city and image-bashing by non-dog residents.

Parking Issues

As has been demonstrated in my "Modest Proposal" post, the parking situation at South Maple is quite bad. It's actually worse than that at Ward Park. I wonder how it was chosen to be the first pilot for a neighborhood dog parks program given the parking limitations. Maybe the city's idea of adequate parking is more limited than ours.

At the Ward Park meeting there was very brief discussion about creating a temporary gravel lot somewhere on the site. Maybe this is a possibility that was being considered for South Maple as well. Unlike Ward Park, a temporary lot could probably be created at South Maple.

If South Maple is not a suitable temporary site, though, there should be somewhere else in town. In comments, Ness suggested Turnberry Park, which I am not familiar with yet. I have elsewhere suggested West Park due to its size, location, and available street parking. There are dozens of other possibilities on the 2,000 acres of park land the city maintains. Esch Park has an open area and lots of neighborhood parking. Greenview is huge and undeveloped, but I understand that there are plans for it. Beckley Park is not very central, but it has a nice big lawn and lots of parking. Buhr is enormous and has plenty of open spaces to offer us one and still leave ample room for picnicking, kite-flying, sun-bathing, etc.

There are adequate spaces all over town, I won't try to name them all or pretend to know all of the parks and the potential drawbacks. The point is that this temporary solution idea ought to be something that can be implemented within the next 30 days in a way that makes (almost) everyone happy.