A dog in the fight

Residents on both sides of the fence came out Sept. 22 to tell the Seattle Parks Board what they think of the draft master plan for off-leash areas, with dog owners barking loudest during the two-hour public hearing.

Many dog owners and canine-centric business owners complained that the plan lacks a commitment to any pilots or other programs, seemingly making due with the annual $104,000 budgeted to Seattle Parks and Recreation for maintaining the city’s 14 current off-leash areas and making improvements where possible.

Seattle Parks superintendent Jesús Aguirre said the Seattle City Council directed the parks department to work with Citizens for Off-Leash Areas to improve the plan prior to the meeting.

Cole Eckerman, the executive director of that group, gave a brief description of the addendum to the plan the group and Seattle Parks agreed upon prior to public comment.

That plan included clarifying language regarding Seattle Parks’ support for off-leash areas, as well as the department’s commitment to finding new land for off-leash areas should funding improve. Aguirre said the latest draft also includes a single point-of-contact within Seattle Parks for off-leash areas.

Pilot sites will be supported under the addendum, but only in fenced areas. A number of Seattle residents commented last Thursday that Seattle Parks should consider off-leash hours at parks, especially neighborhoods far from one of the city’s 14 off-leash areas, which range from 28 acres in Magnuson Park to one-tenth of an acre at Kinnear Park. An ad hoc committee described in the draft plan would vet pilot proposals. Aguirre said Seattle Parks does not support letting dogs off their leash in unfenced areas of public lands due to issues surrounding enforcement and potential conflicts.

Wallingford resident Emily Friedman said she felt ideas about designated off-leash hours in parks were dismissed without thorough research. She said that circumstances for public space were different when the city attempted a Volunteer Park pilot in 1997. She added that she thought it was insulting to suggest small and large dogs shouldn’t mix.

Another part of the addendum would include a public engagement process for the development of up to four pilot sites for off-leash areas, which Aguirre said would take significant community outreach to identify target sites in each city council district.

“Together, [the Citizens for Off-Leash Areas] and Seattle Parks and Recreation can build an equitable [off-leash] system that is easily accessible to every dog owner in their local community,” Eckerman said. “We can only achieve this though if we have adequate funding and more strategic, objective and measurable approaches to land uses.”

COLA is also drafting grant applications to fund a feasibility study before off-leash policies are formally adopted, Eckerman said.

Aguirre said he believes the revisions under the addendum will have a significant impact on the plan as a whole.

Many proponents of increasing accessibility and the number of off-leash areas in Seattle wanted to see more water access for their dogs, which would be supported under the addendum, but Aguirre cautioned state regulatory agencies control shorelines, so such decisions would not fall squarely on Parks and Recreation.

While dog owners were plentiful at the Sept. 22 meeting, there was also a contingent of Seattle residents that did not want to see canines take precedence over people at city parks.

“This meeting seems to be rather a love fest for COLA and for dogs,” said Eliza Davidson, who is also a member of the Volunteer Park Trust.

One off-leash area in Volunteer Park east of the Seattle Asian Art Museum drew complaints about neglected dog feces and noise from 15th Avenue East neighbors. The area was relocated, but was later shut down by court order due to Parks and Recreation not subjecting the property to a State Environmental Policy Act review.

Davidson likes dogs, but chooses not to own one, she said. She said parks space should not be taken away and given to dogs and their owners, which was met with audience heckling that had to be reprimanded by parks board chairman Tom Boyers.

Deborah Niedermeyer said there needs to be better enforcement of the law in leash-only parks, as loose dogs sometimes cause confrontations with dog owners obeying the rules.

“I won’t let my dog off leash,” she said, “that’s illegal.”

There are no off-leash parks near Queen Anne resident Mark McDuff. He estimated he’s driven an extra 2,500 miles per year to use them, often passing closer parks that are leash-only.

“I’m tired of hearing dogs don’t pay taxes,” McDuff said. “Neither do basketballs, but that doesn’t stop us from building basketball courts.”

Justin Green said he’s seen damage caused in park planting areas by dogs allowed off leash. He suggested more city enforcement of licensing laws for dogs and off-leash area user fees to shore up Seattle Parks funds.

There are 39,000 licensed canines in Seattle, and Aguirre said it’s obvious there are many more dogs than that living in the city. Having people license their pets would provide better data for Seattle Parks to use in making decisions, he added. According to Citizens for Off-Leash Areas, there are 1.5 dogs for every child in Seattle — or roughly 150,000 dogs in all.

Alan Deright said Seattle Parks should get its funding from fines on owners of unlicensed dogs. But he doesn’t support off-leash areas, adding he was very happy to see them disappear from Volunteer Park.

“Off-leash areas are in my basket of deplorables,” Deright said.

Those same sentiments were shared by Ellen Taft, who heads up the Citizens for the Protection of Volunteer Park group. She said she’d rather see money spent on drug rehabilitation, the homeless, daycare for children and activities for at-risk youth.

Jessie Dye said both of her dogs are licensed, but she’s going to continue letting them run off leash in city parks until something is done about the shortage of off-leash areas in Seattle. She also said more beach access is needed for dogs.

Ellen Escarega, who chairs COLA’s board, said the all-volunteer organization is just looking for legal ways to represent the one-in-four Seattle households containing dogs.

“We’re not entitled,” she said. “We’re lacking legal land.”

Capitol Hill resident David DiMarco said if there are more dogs than children, maybe parks should be turned over to dogs and off-leash areas reserved for the children. A rather “dystopian idea,” he admitted, but he feels like he’s “living in a dystopian city.”

Capitol Hill has two options for off-leash areas, one being I-5 Colonnade Park and the other Plymouth Pillars Park, which DiMarco called a “gravel urine receptor.”

BRANDON MACZ is the editor of the Capitol Hill Times.