City staff is recommendng some changes to the new leash-free dog park at Peter Misersky Park and the two in the works for Bristol Street and Lee Street Park.
A report heading to council recommends keeping Lee Street Park’s leash-free area unfenced and taking action on improving issues with noise, traffic, behaviour, sightlines, bylaw enforcement at Peter Misersky Park and Bristol Street Park.
“Modifications to Peter Misersky Park and Bristol Street Park will be implemented to address concerns identified by residents living near both leash-free areas,” said Luke Jefferson, manager of open space planning at the City of Guelph in a news release.
“Some of these will include shifting the fence location, adding trees to provide a visual barrier, educating dog owners, providing clear rules and setting hours of operation rather than a dawn to dusk schedule.”
The report can be seen here. It will go to the Committee of the Whole on Feb. 3.
Peter Misersky Park's leash-free park attracted a lot of criticism from residents who expressed their concerns with noise from dogs barking and dog owners using the site, increased traffic, site waste and hygiene, misuse of the site, site proximity to adjacent residences, impacts to nearby property values, best practices for fenced leash-free facilities, size of the facility, impacts to the existing park green space, and consideration for other sites.
The report indicates that residents also voiced their concerns over the city’s process of selecting the sites for development. In response to the concerns, the construction of the leash-free facility at Bristol Street Park is on hold until spring this year.
The report indicates that staff responded to all questions and concerns and posted them online and all operational issues in both parks will be addressed in 2020.
A budget to finalize the new development on Lee Streer Park has already been approved. Any changes to Peter Misersky Park and Bristol Street Park will be taken care of with the existing budget.
