Residents let their dogs run free at the lower ballfield at Big Howe Park Friday in Queen Anne. Big Howe Park, or West Queen Anne Playfield, is one of four sites the city will consider as a possible location for a new off-leash dog area.
Photo by Jessica Keller.
While dog lovers, parks lovers and community advocates have been frustrated that repeated attempts to have the city Parks and Recreation Department create an off-leash dog park on upper Queen Anne have led nowhere, all may not be lost.
Four parks in Queen Anne previously submitted to the city as possible dog park sites are now on a list of 30 throughout Seattle that the parks department will consider before choosing one for a future off-leash dog park. According to city plans, another will be built in West Seattle, and funding set aside for its future dog parks will include design and community outreach for a third one.
Don Harper, Queen Anne Community Council member and chair of its Parks Committee, who has submitted multiple applications with the city to consider different sites in upper Queen Anne for an off-leash dog park, has long maintained that upper Queen Anne needs another off-leash dog area if only to preserve the existing parks in the neighborhood. Without one, residents seeking to give their dogs some exercise close to home will continue to let them roam free in current parks to their detriment.
“Dogs are dogs: They’re running around, and they chase the balls and rip up everything, and they’re a bit of an environmental disaster,” Harper said.
The four parks in Queen Anne the city will consider are Bhy Kracke Park, Mayfair Park, East Queen Anne Playfield, West Queen Anne Playfield. While Harper said he has no preference for which park the city should choose if Parks staff selects a Queen Anne location, he is familiar with each.
Bhy Kracke Park
1215 Fifth Ave. North
Harper said Bhy Kracke is a nice park but questions whether it would be suitable unless placed on the upper level of the park, which has a wide grassy area. That area is closest to nearby residences, and Harper suspects residents would not approve of an off-leash area at the park. He said an off-leash area might be possible on the lower section, near Fifth Avenue North, near the play area, but there is a slope. The mid-level of the park features “a kid of a terrace,” Harper said, but an off-leash area would have to be small, and it is secluded, which may make some people feel uncomfortable.
Mayfair Park
2600 Second Ave. North
Harper said, of the parks, Mayfair is pretty small to consider an off-leash area. Currently, it has a central play area and benches. According to the Park Department’s website for Mayfair Park, it is slated to undergo improvements this year, with bid for construction taking place after the Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections approves the permit. Construction is anticipated to begin this fall, and work will include replacing the existing timber retaining walls, wood stairs and wooden light pole/standards “that have all reached the end of their usefulness.” Paving repair and some trees will be removed that have been deemed hazardous or to accommodate the wall replacement.
West Queen Anne Playfield
150 W. Blaine St.
More commonly known as Big Howe, the six-acre park has ball fields used for baseball, softball and soccer, as well as a play area.
“It’s been broached before, and, of course, it gets a lot of push back,” Harper said, adding neighbors have expressed disapproval of the idea, as have people who use the park for athletics and play.
Plus, he said, one of the areas that could be used is on a slope, and that is not popular idea at the Parks Department.
It is also currently a popular spot for dog owners to bring their canines for play time on the ballfields, despite the signs stating that is not allowed in part because of the damage they cause to the grass used for athletics.
Harper said people involved in Little League have indicated they may be more in favor of sharing the area with off-leash dogs if it gets them off the ballfields, adding he has witnessed people throwing balls for their dogs even with Little League players practicing on the field.
“I’m not sure that’s going to solve it, but that’s a location,” Harper said.
East Queen Anne Playfield
1211 Warren Ave. North
The last park that will be considered is East Queen Anne Playfield, or Little Howe. It has an upper section with a playground, wading pool and restrooms and a lower level with grassy areas that are used as athletic fields by younger children. Like Big Howe, Little Howe is frequently used by dog owners as an off-leash area for their pets despite it being prohibited, and the fields have been damaged because of the play.
“It’s a terrible field,” Harper said, adding that people take their dogs and let them run around the fields and tear up the grass, which is only made worse during the rainy seasons.
At one point, last year, a parent broke his ankle after stepping in a hole dug up by a dog or dogs.
“So, it kind of came about that if you could relocate the soccer and T-ball to another location, that would make a great off-leash area,” Harper said.
Harper said Little Howe could be a viable option for a legitimate off-leash area if another park in the neighborhood could be found to host athletic games and practices for younger children: It is large enough to be an off-leash area for dogs big and small and it is still on top of Queen Anne hill.
“That one would probably be the nicest to have an off-leash area out of the four,” he said.
The question would be where children involved in pee-wee soccer or T-ball would go to play their games. One suggestion has been an area at Rodgers Park, but that has a slope nearby, and the purpose of the grassy area for people to play Frisbee or soccer or have a pick-up game.
“I don’t think we’re doing the kids any favors by shoving them over there,” Harper said.
The nearby Queen Anne Bowl, on the other end of the park down the hill, has artificial turf, and the city has declared any field with artificial turf is dedicated for team sports. Harper pointed out, however, there is a “fairly large” swath of land that is between the track and the field that could possibly be used in place of the field at Little Howe, but that would require a bit of juggling with other team play.
Harper said he also heard, but has not confirmed, that the lower field at Big Howe will have four baseball diamonds on it, which might make it an acceptable location for the younger athletic teams if true.
NO FIRST CHOICE
Right now, Harper said he is not putting forward any park as the best location for an off-leash area.
“I’m not saying no or yes to anything,” Harper said.
He has reached out to the Park sand Recreation staff member in charge of off-leash areas to ask if the city has changed its existing criteria for off-leash parks in neighborhoods and, if so, to provide details.
In addition, the four parks under consideration were already proposed in a previous application for an off-leash park submitted to the city by Queen Anne resident Shannon Praetorius, but Harper said parks department staff never responded.
Harper said he doesn’t understand why city staff didn’t follow up on Praetorius’ application when she began the last attempt to gain an off-leash area in Queen Anne using the city’s process and are only just considering them, along with 26 others, now.
“So, there’s a real kind of a chip on our shoulders about how they’re treating us and how they’re moving the goal post for us,” Harper said, adding some clarification from the city would be nice. “We’ve been following the previous rules, and now what parks has done is rather than deal with us, they’ve changed the rules,”
He also asked whether the final decision for a new off-leash park would be made just by parks staff or if non-parks representatives would be included because, if so, he would be interested in taking part.
Harper said, however, even with the four parks in Queen Anne listed among the 30 to be considered, he would be surprised if any of the four were chosen in the end.
“We’ll see, and we know that parks is going to use race and social justice as a filter as what they’re going to try to do,” Harper said. “It’s just odd. I am of the view that if we want to save our parks, and if we want to save our athletic fields, then spending money on large off-leash areas is the way to do that.”
In the meantime, residents are still taking their dogs out and letting them play off leash in areas where they are not allowed to the consternation of many and detriment to the playfields.