Seattle Parks and Recreation last week unveiled seven potential locations for off-leash dog areas in Magnolia and Queen Anne. But hardly anyone at packed community meetings in each neighborhood thought much of the choices.
And a few objected to the very idea of letting dogs run free in public parks. In fact, a petition drive launched at the Queen Anne meeting called for the Parks Department to drop the plan altogether.
In many ways, the two meetings were reminiscent of the heated pro-and-con rhetoric that erupted when the Seattle City Council held hearings about setting up off-leash areas almost a decade ago. Tempers were running so high, in fact, that police were stationed at some of the meetings.
That was then. There are 11 off-leash areas in Seattle today, and the goal back in the mid-1990s was to set up the areas in each part of the city, said park planner Lana Krisman. But Magnolia and Queen Anne ended up with none, she noted.
However, a new effort may change that. "The Parks Department was contacted by Magnolia and Queen Anne community members asking us to look for (neighborhood) sites," Krisman said.
Members of Citizens for Off Leash Areas (COLA) were also involved in coming up with a list of potential sites, as were the Magnolia Community Club and the Queen Anne Community Council, she said.
The idea is to set up one or two off-leash areas on park property in the two communities, Krisman said, but the proposal is only at the wish-list stage for the moment. "We have no funding," she said.
Using standards adopted by the city council in 1997, potential off-leash areas in Magnolia and Queen Anne can't, for instance, interfere with established uses, nor can they be located near residences or children's play areas.
They also can't be set up in sensitive environmental areas or on steep slopes, and nearby parking should be available, according to the criteria.
The potential areas include quarter-acre-or-less sections of Magnolia Manor Park on 28th Avenue West; Thorndyke Park; two locations in Magnolia Park off Magnolia Boulevard West; Dave Rodgers Park off Third Avenue West; and both upper and lower Kinnear Park in Lower Queen Anne.
In a sense, the Parks Department is responding to the obvious. "These have been kind of de-facto off-leash areas," Krisman conceded.
Off-leash scofflaws face tickets that start out at $54 for the first offense and increase to $109, $136 and $162 for repeated offenses. Few get caught, though, and the effect of dogs already running free in neighborhood parks was cited by several people as a reason sanctioned off-leash areas shouldn't be created.
Frank Spracklin, who lives near Magnolia Manor Park, said the park was almost destroyed over the winter by people letting their dogs run free. "People won't take their kids there (because of loose dogs)," he said.
"It's offensive to homeowners who agreed to a passive park," Spracklin said of the park's creation several years ago on Seattle Public Utilities reservoir land.
Carolyn Parris-who lives near Kinnear Park with Jeff Muse-could hardly contain herself at the Queen Anne meeting because she was so angry about the off-leash proposals.
"We both had dogs in the past when we lived in the country," Parris said, who was visibly agitated. But people don't bring their children to Kinnear Park because of loose dogs, she said.
Parris added that she's heard dogs fighting and seen dogs go after squirrels, sometimes at the urging of their owners. "We've seen four squirrels get mangled."
Muse said he feels for people with dogs, but he also said loose dogs cause problems in the Queen Anne park because there's not enough enforcement of the leash laws. "It took us months to get people ticketed," Parris said.
On the flip side, one woman at the Queen Anne meeting said she thinks off-leash areas are a great idea because she consider her pets to be just like her children.
"I'm a taxpayer, I'm a dog owner, and I want an off-leash area in Queen Anne," another woman said. Others spoke of the friends they've made at formal and de-facto off-leash sites, and Magnolian Scott Driver brought up a common complaint.
"I feel very strongly that the off-leash population is under-served," he said. But Driver also complained that the proposed locations didn't meet even one of the siting criteria.
Sharon LeVine, a COLA member and longtime board member of the Queen Anne Community Council, disputed that. "They do basically meet the criteria," she said.
But joining almost all of the off-leash fans at the meetings, LeVine still objected to the potential sites because, among other reasons, they're too small.
She suggested that the end of Third Avenue West near the Lake Washington Ship Canal would be a better location. Don Harper-chair of the Queen Anne Community Council's parks committee-agreed.
But Harper pointed out that permission would be needed from other governmental parties such as the Seattle Department of Transportation and King County. And Krisman from the Parks Department noted that only city park property can be used for off-leash areas in Seattle.
Pam Head, a COLA member, brought a map she created that shows the addresses of all the licensed dogs in Magnolia and Queen Anne. There are hundreds, and the sheer numbers mean the potential off-leash sites are inadequate, according to her.
"We are being asked to settle for scraps," she complained. A far better location, according to Head, would be in Discovery Park near the north parking lot.
Many others at the two meetings also felt Discovery Park would be a good location, not only near the north parking lot, but also near the south parking lot and even on the site of Navy Housing that will eventually be demolished.
Using Discovery Park came up when the search for off-leash parks took place almost a decade ago, Krisman said. The idea was "overwhelmingly rebuffed" by the Friends of Discovery Park, she said, noting that the park is also governed by a Master Plan that forbids non-park uses.
"I think the master plan is a red herring," Head countered. "Master plans are changed all the time."
Using lower Smith Cove Park as an off-leash site was also suggested by a couple of people. "We considered that," Krisman said, "but there is a planning process for that park, and we did not want to usurp that."
In addition, King County transferred the park to the city for the express purpose of using it for ballfields, King County Council president and Magnolia resident Larry Phillips said at the time.
"I would strongly suggest we pursue Fort Lawton," said Bob Sitting of the Army Reserve Center that the federal government will declare surplus in a few years.
Sitting wasn't the only one who thought it would be a good spot for an off-leash area, and he and the others in favor of the location assumed the property would become part of the park. In truth, homeless services get first dibs on the property, according to federal law.
The Parks Department will evaluate all the comments made at the two meetings, along with written comments, Krisman said. Staff will then make recommendations to Parks Superintendent Ken Bounds, who has to OK the idea before it goes to the Board of Park Commissioners, which will hold a hearing and make a recommendation to Bounds, Krisman said.
"And again, Ken Bounds will make a decision to proceed or not proceed," she added. If Bounds does approve moving forward, one or more sites will become pilot projects that will be evaluated for 18 months before they can become permanent, Krisman said.[[In-content Ad]]
