A group of dog owners in the Mount Pleasant area of Vancouver have banded together to lobby for an off-leash park space in their neighborhood.
“Right now, Mount Pleasant is a desert in a dog park,” said Eugenia Serrano, one of the organizers of the Dude Chilling Dogs group. “There are no dog parks within reasonable walking distance of us.”
The City of Vancouver says it aims to offer most residents access to an off-leash dog area within a 15-minute walk.
City maps show Mount Pleasant’s closest off-leash areas in the park are Trout Lake or Hinge Park in the Olympic Village.
“I can not do it [walk] twice a day,” said Marty Hallatt, a dog owner who lives near Dude Chilling Park and is part of the campaign.
City of Vancouver Off-Leash Dog Zones Map from 2017 City Report (City of Vancouver)
He says it’s frustrating trying to balance his dog’s needs while complying with the law, risking a violation every time he lets his pug, Rhino, off-leash.
“There doesn’t seem to be a real solution on offer here,” he said.
The lobby group wants to see a leash-free zone on the east side of Mount Pleasant. They see Dude Chilling Park as the centerpiece, but are open to other parks in the area.
Rhino the pug. His owner, Marty Hallatt, wants an off-leash area where Rhino can play in the Mount Pleasant area. (Emma Djwa/CBC)
Off-leash dog conflicts are on the rise in the community.
A parent committee at Mount Pleasant Elementary School put up signs a year ago around the school’s perimeter urging dog owners to keep their dogs on a leash when using school grounds after ongoing complaints.
“There’s already tension in our neighborhood,” Serrano said. “We need a solution because it’s an immediate problem now and it’s only going to get worse once there’s more density in our neighborhood.”
An underserved area
In 2017, the city’s strategy for people, parks and dogs identified Mount Pleasant as the most underserved neighborhood for an off-leash dog zone.
Two new off-leash areas are planned, but they are in parks west of Cambie Street, intended for residents of west Mount Pleasant, Kitsilano and Fairview, which were also identified as high-need communities.
In an email to CBC News, the Vancouver Park Board says it doesn’t have the budget to meet the demand for off-leash zones, but hopes to address more of the issue in its 2023 capital plan.
For dog owners like Halat, that’s small consolation.
He says it’s been six years since he moved to Mount Pleasant and he’s been without a nearby dog park for Rhyno.
“My dogs live 12 to 15 years, so that’s literally half of his entire life,” he said. “How much longer will we have to wait?”
Until then, Hallat and others say they will focus on raising the issue with people considering running for park board and council seats in the fall.
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