Residents who would like an off-leash dog park to open on the top of Queen Anne are invited to the next Queen Anne Community Council Parks Committee meeting next week.
The meeting, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday on Zoom, will include possibly requesting the city turn a section of David Rodgers Park into an off-leash dog park.
Queen Anne Community Council Parks Committee Chair Don Harper toured the park with about 20 people Nov. 20 to see if there were any ideal locations to create an off-leash area at David Rodgers Park, 2800 First Ave. W. Three areas were listed as potential sites by the group, which included some neighbors who were not in favor of the idea.
While Harper does not own a dog, he has appealed to the city to create an off-leash dog park on upper Queen Anne so residents have a place to let their dogs run around without breaking leash laws.
“If we had an OLA there, people would stop letting their dogs off-leash in the park,” Harper said.
Without an easily accessible dog park on the top of Queen Anne, dog owners have resorted to letting their dogs off-leash at all the local parks and athletic fields, despite it not being permitted. As a result, Harper said, the quality of the parks are deteriorating because dogs tear up the fields and turf and, in some cases, make the playfields unusable. Residents also run the risk of getting ticketed by the city for breaking the rules.
Harper said an off-leash park at David Rodgers Park could be a good compromise to what has become a tricky issue.
“I don’t know of where else we can put a dog off leash area that will serve most of Queen Anne,” Harper said. “I know it won’t be a significant size. ... We just gotta use what’s there, what’s existing.”
Harper said while the city created a large off-leash dog park at lower Kinnear Park, it is inconvenient for people who live on top of Queen Anne to reach unless they drive. A second OLA would be a good compromise and possibly save existing parks.
One of the parks that has taken a lot of abuse from dogs is Little Howe Park, also called East Queen Anne Playfield, on Warren Avenue North.
The park isn’t that big, but features a playground and wading pool on top of a slope and a playfield, primarily used by little children’s athletic teams, down a flight of steps from the top part.
Harper said he visited recently after he was told by multiple people the park is almost unusable and that a father had broken his ankle in a hole on the field while he was there with his child.
“I was surprised how much that playfield had deteriorated,” Harper said.
Harper said when he went to the park, he saw two people with dogs off leash, as well as a playfield with holes and large areas with no grass, just dirt. In the rain, those areas turn to mud, and the holes get bigger.
“I went over there and looked, and that field is so bad,” Harper said. “There’s hardly any grass, and there are holes everywhere. I’m not talking little holes, I’m talking pot holes.
“There’s no respect for the fact that it is a playfield for kids,” Harper added.
After filing a complaint to the city, Harper said he heard news that the city has created a work order to make repairs to the turf. At last week’s Community Council meeting, however, he expressed skepticism that it would actually get done since the Parks Department does not have any money budgeted to make repairs for Little Howe. Plus, without intervention, it will only get torn up again.
Harper said he wishes that the playfield could have a fence all the way around with a gate and a lock.
“It’s going to be the only way that field is going to get saved,” Harper said. “We fix the field, and it’s just going to get ruined again.”
Harper said he doesn’t blame the dogs for running around and causing damage. For every dog, he said, there is a human allowing that behavior.
“Yes, it’s about the dog, but really it’s about the human,” he said.
At the same time, Harper understands the idea of creating a new off-leash dog area is easier said than done. First, some people will always oppose opening up their neighborhood park to more people and dogs.
“It can be disturbing,” he said. “It can be hard.”
A bigger hurdle, however, is getting the city’s parks department to agree to the creation of another OLA at an existing park, such as David Rodgers. The last couple of locations proposed were dismissed by the city, and Harper is running out of ideas.
People who would like to attend the Parks Committee meeting Tuesday can sign up at https://signup.com/go/KhgyhgB. Depending on the outcome, Harper will report any recommendations to the Queen Anne Community Council board at its regular meeting in January.