New dog parks are proposed, debated, and often opened with fanfare all over the Bay area. Here’s the scoop on the open, the proposed and the long-awaited.
Last fall the City of San Leandro celebrated the opening of a new dog park in the scenic Marina Park recreation area. After a few years of persistent hard work and efforts initiated and championed by the Four Paws Society of San Leandro the spacious, fenced-in dog park is ready to serve dogs large and small in separate play areas. Each side has water fountains, benches and shade structures; the whole park shares the breath-taking view of the Bay from San Francisco to the San Mateo Bridge.
In Oakland, the path to a new dog park near Lake Merritt has not been smooth. Dog owners first started advocating for a park in 1998, it has even been approved twice, in 2006 and 2010 as part of the renovation the entire Lake Merritt area has been undergoing. There has been a group actively opposing creation of the park and both sides are often found leafleting at the proposed site near Lakeshore Ave. at MacArthur Blvd. Dogs are totally banned, off-leash or on, at Lake Merritt, the only exception being city sidewalks and dog owners are looking forward to having a space to call their own. Currently the proponents of the Lakeview Dog Play Area are asking Oakland residents who support the park to write to Oakland’s Planning Commission. Emily Rosenberg , co-founder of the Oakland Dog Owners Group, stresses that even if you have expressed your opinion during earlier parts of the process, it is vital to send letters of support now while the application is under review. She asks that emails of support be sent directly to city planner Ann Clevenger at aclevenger@oaklandnet.com with bcc’s to her group at odogparks@comcast.net so they can track how many have been received.
Of Oakland’s more than 100 parks only 5 allow off-leash dogs and 5 have fenced in off-leash play areas for dogs. Positive change might come soon at Dimond Park, boarded by Fruitvale Ave. and the Glenview neighborhood. City Council Member Libby Schaaf is asking neighbors to take a survey about new ideas to make the park more dog-friendly. (You can take the survey on-line, search for “Dimond Park Dog Access Survey.”) On February 22 people will gather at the Dimond Park Rec Center to review the findings and talk about dog-friendly changes.
San Francisco has also seen a new park open: the Rincon Hill Dog Park located at Bryant and Beale Streets in the Rincon Hill neighborhood of the South of Market District in San Francisco. The official Grand Opening celebration will be Saturday, February 11, 2012 from 11am until 2pm. Keep an eye on www.RinconHillDogPark.com for more news and ways to volunteer — neighbors take turns opening the park at 6am and locking it up again at 10pm. Locals Marty Coressel and Josh Wolf started working on this park in 2007 and are crossing the finish line with help from the City’s Department of Public Works, many community members who showed up once a month for two years to clean the undeveloped site, and a partnership with SFDOG who came in as a fiscal sponsor. Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to open this beautiful new dog park!
NEW PARKS
There are new proposed dog parks elsewhere in San Francisco. Heron’s Head Park and Park Merced are both due to get new dog parks under the Recreation and Park Department’s plan. However, the Natural Areas Management Plan they are following also calls for McLaren Park to lose 8.3 of its 61.7 acres of off-leash area, Bernal Hill would lose 6 acres and all 5 acres in Lake Merced would be off-limits. The early plans for the 1.4 acre city park near the new Transbay terminal in San Francisco include a proposed dog park but the conceptual designs won’t be released until March.
For the next few months Rec and Park will be doing work pruning and removing trees at Stern Grove/Pine Lake. This will cause periodic closures off the off-leash area, parking lots and other areas. The work here is not part of the RPD Natural Areas Management Plan and new trees will be planted to replace the ones removed.
Other new parks opened: San Leandro Dog Park, south end of Marina Park at 14001 Monarch Bay Drive San Leandro, CA. Rincon Hill Dog Park: northwest corner of Beale and Bryant Streets, 486 Beale Street.
Holly Fogleboch is still learning the Bay area & exploring with her black lab, Daisy. If you are familiar with plans to open new dog parks or have news related to this topic please email her at holly@baywoof.com
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