Guelph City Council has come full circle on the hotly-contested issue of leash-free dog parks.
As a result the fenced-in, off-leash park at Peter Misersky Park on the city's east side will stay open and the one planned for Bristol Street will go ahead.
A third fenced-in dog park planned for Lee Street later this year was cancelled.
The city still plans on moving ahead with finding a more suitable permanent location for a leash-free dog park as part of the 2021 budget discussions.
Staff will also be looking into locking the parks from dusk until dawn along other previously announced measures to help address issues residents living near the dog parks have.
Last June council approved a staff plan calling for three fenced-in, leash-free dog parks parks. Earlier this month council reversed that decision, voting to close the one at Peter Misersky and cancel the two others after many concerns brought forth by residents living near Peter Misersky.
But council agreed Monday with Mayor Cam Guthrie that the decision made earlier this month at council’s Committee of the Whole meeting was out of order, going against the procedural rules of council.
“It’s not even about dog parks for me … it’s about due process,” said the mayor.
“Misersky and Bristol, at this point, they’re still open. They’re going to be moving forward,” Guthrie said.
Guthrie ruled, and council agreed, that reversing a decision made last June to build the parks was against the rules of council procedure.
The decision will still be challenged, but that challenge faces an uphill battle.
Councillor Leanne Piper said she would be bringing a notice of reconsideration to deliberate the issue again in March. But that notice of reconsideration would need the support of nine of the 13 members of council just to be debated.
The vote in support of Guthrie's ruling that the closing of two parks was out of order was supported by a 9-4 vote. (Voting to keep Peter Misersky open and continue with Bristol Street: Cam Guthrie, Mark MacKinnon, Dominique O’Rourke, Cathy Downer, Leanne Piper, Mike Salisbury, Christine Billings, Rodrigo Goller, Dan Gibson. Against: June Hofland, James Gordon, Phil Allt, Bob Bell.)
The Mayor posted a letter on Twitter Monday afternoon outlining his intentions to rule against any motion that would close Peter Misersky and Bristol Street.
“I believe they would be in direct conflict to the unanimous decision of council from the June 2019 Implementation Plan,” Guthrie wrote, referring to the decision to build the dog parks made last summer.
Guthrie acknowledged his decision could and would be challenged and it was, by Coun. Bob Bell.
The issue has been a hot topic item for weeks.
Because the vote by council technically took the issue off the table, the 27 delegates scheduled to speak Monday did not get to do so.
In addition to those delegates, over 225 people sent correspondence to the city on the issue and there was a ‘keep Peter Misersky open’ petition that had 4,936 online signatures as of Monday night.
The council chamber gallery had about 150 people in it Monday.
Noise, garbage and parking issues have been rampant at Peter Misersky Park since the dog park opened.
