News & Updates from the park

City of Winnipeg staff and consultants are holding a pop-up event at Kilcona Park next Saturday from 10am to 2pm. They’re looking for your feedback about Winnipeg’s proposed Off-leash Area Master Plan.

This is a critical time in the evolution of Winnipeg dog parks. Saturday’s event is pretty much the last chance Winnipeg dog owners will have a say in what our dog parks will look like in the future, how they will be managed, and who will have the right to use them. Please  make an an extra effort to be there and add your voice to the call for high-quality, single-use off-leash dog parks.

Under City’s proposed plan, only the smallest dog parks (between .25 and .75 ha) will be single-use. All others, including large regional dog park like Kilcona, as well as community dog parks, and neighbourhood off-leash areas like Transcona’s new Devonshire Dog Park will be multiple-use. That means that runners, cyclists, school groups, picknickers and other special interest groups will still be able to use off-leash areas for their own activities.

If there are any issues between off-leash dogs and  other off-leash dog park users, the City deems the dog owner is at fault. For example, if your dog is tempted to chase a bike or a  runner in an off-leash area, the fine is $200.

At last spring’s public consultations, dog park stakeholders including KPDC asked that all off-leash areas be single-use, set aside for the exclusive use of dogs and their owners. We asked that runners, bicyclists, picnickers, community festivals and other special interest groups not be given the right to use off-leash areas for their own activities.

KPDC argued that this is a reasonable standard since one in four Winnipeg homes has at least one dog, Winnipeg currently has 10,000 acres of green space,  and City Council has only set aside about 200 acres of green space for dog parks. It is reasonable in the same way that dogs are not allowed on soccer and baseball fields, golf courses, and other special use areas – even when they are on-leash.

In June, through the Winnipeg Network of Dog Owner Groups, KPDC’s Board appealed to the four City Councillors who sit on the Off-leash Area Master Plan Steering Committee  for single-use dog parks – Russ Wyatt, John Orlikow, Ross Eadie, and Mike Pagtikhan. After six months, the Councillors still have not responded.

If you are unable to attend Saturday’s pop-up at Kilcona, please make your views know through the online survey at winnipeg.ca/offleashareas.

Let Mayor Bowman and your City Councillor know that you support single-use dog parks and that for safety, you support new legislation that would prevent unsupervised children from entering off-leash areas.

Please send your emails to City Councillors at the following email addresses. If you copy president@kpdc.ca, KPDC is better able to support the views of individual members.

• Mayor Brian Bowman – mayor@winnipeg.ca

• Matthew Allard (St. Boniface) – mallard@winnipeg.ca

• Jeff Browaty (N. Kildonan) – jbrowaty@winnipeg.ca

• Shawn Dobson (St. Charles) -sdobson@winnipeg.ca

• Ross Eadie (Mynarski) – readie@winnipeg.ca

• Jennie Gerbasi (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) -jgerbasi@winnipeg.ca

• Scott Gillingham (St. James-Brooklands-Weston) – sgillingham@winnipeg.ca

• Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) – cgilroy@winnipeg.ca

• Janice Lukes (St.Norbert) – jlukes@winnipeg.ca

• Brian Mayes (St. Vital) – bmayes@winnipeg.ca

• Marty Morantz (Charleswood-Tuxedo) – mmorantz@winnipeg.ca

• John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) – jorlikow@winnipeg.ca

• Mike Pagtakhan (Point Douglas) – mpagtakhan@winnipeg.ca

• Jason Schreyer (Elmwood-East Kildonan) – jschreyer@winnipeg.ca

• Russ Wyatt (Transcona) – rwyatt@winnipeg.ca

If neither option works for you, the City will hold one more pop-up at Cindy Klassen Rec Centre, 999 Sargent Avenue, on December 7 from 4 to 6pm.