A survey looking at people’s experiences sharing Millennium Park & Ponds with dogs and their guardians has wrapped up and Castlegar's city council received a report this week outlining the results.
The survey was part of a public engagement process that council initiated following complaints about the Millennium Park dog park and leading up to a decision as to how, or if, the dog park will continue to operate in the future.
The survey ran for about a month over part of April and May. Community pop-ups were held to promote the survey, and one-on-one meetings were offered for those that needed more time to share their thoughts.
City staff reported they were happy with the level of participation with 429 people completing the survey. Half of the respondents were from the downtown area and the rest were from other parts of Castlegar.
Pet guardians made up the majority of survey respondents with 77 per cent saying they visit the park to exercise their dog. Of those dog guardians, 81 per cent said they use the fenced off-leash areas, 68 per cent use the south beach dog park, and about 86 per cent use the park's pathways.
About 57 per cent of survey respondents said they visit the park for other recreational purposes.
About one-quarter of the 97 respondents that live within 500 metres of the dog parks said they were disturbed by general noise from Millennium Park. Of those, 14 are disturbed almost daily, and two are disturbed one to two times per week.
About eight respondents said they are impacted by trespassing. Of those, two are regularly affected. There are 14 properties that directly abut Millennium Park.
Most of the respondents (80 per cent) reported that they rarely or never encounter dogs off-leash.
About 18 per cent of respondents indicated that they encounter dogs rushing at them.
Of dog guardians, about seven per cent reported encountering dogs rushing at them while their dog is on leash and about 14 per cent indicated that they experience rushing while in the off-leash area.
About five per cent of dog guardians reported difficulty with other dogs at the main entrance to the fenced off-leash areas.
Many respondents, both general park users and dog guardians alike, commented that dogs off-leash outside designated areas was an issue for them .
The next step in council's decision-making process is for staff to finalize a report on best management practices for dog parks. The report will include research and comparisons with other municipality's dog parks.
Based on the engagement work done so far, city staff reported that there are several consistent issues that have emerged – noise, trespass, rushing behaviour, gate areas and off-leash dogs outside designated areas.The best management practices report will focus on those issues.
Council has also requested a history of the south beach off-leash dog area. There has been much debate about this area and information has been brought forward by members of the public suggesting that the area had been set aside years ago as a protected riparian (shoreline) area.
In May, unusually low water levels in the river prompted the city to require that all pets be leashed in all areas of Millennium Park and Zuckerberg Island with the exception of the fully enclosed off-leash dog park.
The restriction included the off-leash dog beach area at Millennium Park.
In order to encourage only on-leash use of the area, the city locked the gate to the off-leash beach access point and posted signs with the new rules. Those locks and signs have been stolen or removed multiple times.
Mayor Maria McFaddin said those actions are "deeply disappointing."
At a July 15 meeting, council decided to keep the off-leash restriction in place at least until they receive the staff report outlining the history of the area and the best practices report.
