“Build it and they will come” is an understatement when it comes to Magnolia’s Off Leash Area (OLA) at Magnolia Manor Park. Owners and their dogs have come in droves. Rain is not even a deterrent. They play, prance and act like puppies in the new OLA, which opened in early November 2012.
Owners know each other by the name of their dogs: “Oh, you’re Stormy’s mom” or “Baxter’s parent.” On any given day, at any particular time, you may see as many as 20 owners and their various breeds in all sizes and statures fetching sticks, playing “Chuck-It” or just wrestling in a friendly way with the other canines inside.
Magnolia Manor Park served, for many years, as an active de facto OLA. Some involved with the OLA say it suffers from past behaviors of some dog owners’ misuse. It has been reported that some owners still run their dogs off-leash outside the OLA on the grassy slopes, do not quiet their barking dogs, come after-hours to run dogs and do not clean up after their dogs or, if they do, dump the debris in the garbage or yards of the neighbors.
Carla Kotila, of the Friends of Magnolia Manor Park (FMMP) steering committee and on the OLA stewardship committee, said there was a serious discussion regarding the dog park the week of March 31 at the FMMP steering committee meeting. She equated the problems with a small group of folks who she describes as feeling “entitled.”
She said, “I compare these irresponsible users to drug dealers/users who take over a neighborhood: They only care about themselves and what they are doing. Neighbors get frustrated and tired of this behavior and band together to drive [them] out of the neighborhood…. The majority [of mostly responsible] OLA users must band together and “un-invite” the irresponsible users.”
Kolita points out that the OLA is on an 18-month trial, and this behavior could put the park out of business if things do not get better.
If Toni Imfeld gets her way, things are about to change. “Novelty is what is driving the high use…. It should taper off over the next few months,” she said. The Magnolia resident is a FMMP steering-committee member, past vice president of Citizens for Off-Leash Areas (COLA) and a driving force behind the park design and the new official lead steward for the park.
A challenging trial
Imfeld served on the steering committee and worked closely with Seattle Parks and Recreation, Site Workshop, the community and COLA (which put up $10,000 to enlarge the park and add features, to be paid back in the next few years through fund-raising) for more than years. She worked on getting a small- and shy-dog area and a combination surface that incorporated a friendlier feel for dogs than pure gravel.
The stewardship committee who works with Imfeld and Kolita includes Meryl Blazer, Eileen O’Keefe and Inger Beecher. The goal of this group is “to promote community bonding among park users with activities (dog contests, potlucks, fun training events, etc.), to educate and, yes, patrol the irresponsible users (even submitting license-plate numbers of offenders),” according to Kolita.
They want at least six more committee members actively working at the OLA.
Imfeld fears that dog park users are unaware of ”what is at stake” if stewardship at the OLA is not increased and a few inconsiderate dog owners do not respect the rules and pitch in at work parties and in the fund-raising.
By late spring 2014, there will be public hearings by Seattle Parks and Recreation and its superintendent will make a recommendation on the continuation of the Magnolia Manor Park OLA to the Park Board. Imfeld said she hopes an aggressive education program for users of the park will take care of the problems.
To date, Imfeld sums up the goings-on as ”the good, the bad and the noisy…,” with “cleaning the area and quieting the dogs” as the major challenges. “It is my expectation that all users of the park also serve as stewards.”
Imfeld added, “This park — as small as it is — gets hundreds of dogs a day…and it does not take many to negatively affect what was developed [and is] supported and enjoyed by so many.”
Community stewardship
For the future, the FMMP steering committee has decided to limit use to only those working at scheduled work parties and support more outreach to dog owners using the facility.
To that end, Imfeld and her committee, as well as the FMMP steering committee, are looking to increase awareness of what it takes to keep an OLA safe, clean and a good neighbor. The VCA Magnolia Veterinary Hospital has donated a bag station so owners can “scoop their poop.” Imfeld and her committee will actively educate users to keep dogs on the leash until they enter the OLA, to only have unleashed dogs in the actual OLA and on-leash everywhere else in the park.
They are telling folks to keep the dog barking at a minimum and are asking that if you use the park, you help with the work parties or donate needed funds to defray the COLA monies put toward the OLA or to improve the dog park.
There is a “to-do list,” and Imfeld and her committee are committed to working their way through it to make the OLA an even better place: a new separate entrance for the small- and shy-dog area, more plantings, regular maintenance work parties and community-building fun activities like a mini Magnolia Dog-o-Ween — costumes and all.
But the fact remains that unless all users of the OLA step up what has been a longtime dream of the community and promise fulfilled by countless hours of planning and fund-raising, it could evaporate, leaving Magnolia without its OLA.
They are seeking better participation by all users and additional members to the stewardship committee. Go to www.magnoliamanorpark.org or the Magnolia Manor Park OLA Facebook page to volunteer or donate.
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