The City of Guelph is holding a special meeting for those living close to the city's first dog park that has some neighbours up in arms.
The meeting will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 13, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Victoria Road Recreation Centre.
People sharing a property line with the dog park, which is located in Misersky Park on the city's east side, were delivered notices from the city advising them of the meeting.
"We'd like to personally invite you to a meeting to discuss the fenced leash-free area at Peter Misersky Park," read the notices, which were delivered earlier this week.
"We would like to hear about your experience with the Peter Miseersky fenced leash-free area — the good and the bad. We will use your feedback to identify problems, explore solutions and will report back to you with a summary of what w heard along with how we can address your concerns."
A third-party consultant will host the meeting.
The first of three fenced-in, leash-free dog parks planned for the city opened Sept. 19.
While highly popular with dog owners, it has caused an uproar with several people living close to the park.
Barking, after-hours usage, traffic, parking and people leaving bags of dog poop laying around are among the concerns they have expressed.
Media are not invited to the meeting.
Luke Jefferson, the city's manager of open space planning, parks and recreation, said the city is trying to facilitate a meeting where people feel comfortable speaking up.
"The city has invited specific residents to this session and would like to maximize the likelihood that people will feel comfortable speaking candidly about their experiences, and for that reason we would prefer to provide media with highlights of the meeting afterwards rather than in the room," Jefferson told GuelphToday.
"For that reason I would prefer to provide you with a summary of what we heard after the meeting. "I encourage you to keep in touch and I will connect back with you after we finish receiving input from both the meeting itself and follow up office hours, if you wish to discuss how it went."
Jefferson did say it was inevitable that some people not living on the property line would show up at the meeting.
The city has already said it will provide increased surveillance of the park on weekends and increase efforts to educate those dog users who are using it inappropriately.
