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August 10, 2004

The city's behind us!

On August 10, Grand Rapids City Officials voiced unanimous support of the City's first off-leash park for dogs and their owners. Over the past year, the Grand Rapids Dog Park Enthusiasts and area residents worked closely with Parks and Recreation Department Director Jay Steffen and Parks Superintendent Tom Zelinski and their team to complete the research and jump the hurdles necessary to get to this stage.

As some of you are aware, we faced a setback earlier this year when city budget cuts forced the Commission to eliminate promised funding to develop an off-leash area. We responded with Plan "B": Grand Rapids Dog Park Enthusiasts would commit to raise the funds necessary for fencing if the City made the land commitment.

Now that we have the City's permission and land commitment, we can move this initiative forward. It's fundraising time, folks.

Our goal is to fence and open this newly created section in Hillcrest Park by November 30 of this year. We need support and funds for materials and labor required to fence the estimated 900 linear feet surrounding the 1-acre plot of land. We are currently seeking formal estimates for fencing and will report back with the final numbers.

What can you expect from the park? Some cities have established stark fenced in parking lots for dogs and owners to socialize. Other cities have created dramatic play areas complete with pools, water fountains, agility runs and more. The first Grand Rapids off-leash area will be emphatically better than the former, but not as extravagant as the latter. After all, this is a non-profit venture —— a partnership among area dog owners and dog lovers, the City and the Hillcrest Neighborhood Association.

We encourage everyone to visit and walk the site. We were wonderfully surprised by the size and layout recommended by the City's landscape architects. It is a beautiful wooded setting, a place dog owners will enjoy just as much as the dogs who will romp the grounds. It is located at the top of the hill behind Fuller Park, near the corner of Fulton and Michigan.

We are approaching this project at Hillcrest as a model for future neighborhood off-leash parks. We can't imagine a better partner neighborhood than the Hillcrest Neighborhood Association. They should be commended for their vision and willingness to support allocation of a one-acre parcel of greenspace. Hillcrest is one of the most active and dynamic neighborhood associations in the City. Years ago, it successfully garnered the support and resources of nearby homeowners to allocate land for a community garden, where neighbors could lease garden plots, make friends and socialize with neighbors. We are fortunate to have their support for our off-leash initiative.

If the sky was the limit, we would open at least two parks concurrently. Budget and time constraints are the main challenges at this time. Which means we will all be working especially hard to make Hillcrest an example of excellence.

For many dog owners, an off-leash area is as important to quality of life in Grand Rapids as pools, soccer fields and tennis courts are to families with kids. If you want to support the initiative, click on the "donate" button. You can also email suggestions, sign up for the volunteer list, note any skills that might come in handy (i.e. fundraising, post digging).

If you are willing to pass out donation envelopes on your street or to your dog-loving friends, contact us and we will provide you with a supply. If you have a corporate connection for fencing materials or support, we would be very grateful.

Posted by Gwen at August 10, 2004 04:07 PM

Comments

Good job with the interview Dave!

Posted by: dottie at August 10, 2004 07:05 PM

So all of you happy dog owners that don't live in the neighborhod are ectastic that you'll have a place to drive to....it's too bad that the opinions of the local dog owners that were at the ONE 'public forum' were ignored so completely. Anyone want to buy a house in the neighborhood? I'll swap.

Posted by: toots at August 10, 2004 09:44 PM

I attended that public meeting and thought the city and the neighborhood association did a great job providing an open forum for people to voice their opinions.
The overwhelming opinion was (and still is) that the off leash area will be a great thing for the community. And hopefully once this one is up and running there will be the opportunity for others to follow across the city.
I think its great that the dogs finally have a safe and legal place to play and socialize and believe this will be a benefit to Grand Rapids. And I don’t mind having to drive a short distance to provide this for my dogs.
The option is there for people to use the off-leash area or not…it’s certainly not mandatory that you do.

Posted by: dottie at August 13, 2004 10:36 AM

I'm not sure why Toots chose to put "public forum" in quotation marks. She (he?) appears to be mocking the meeting's openness. In fact, it WAS a public forum open to any and all who chose to attend. I was part of the team who distributed leaflets to all homes within a four block area around the park announcing the meeting. The meeting was neither secretive nor exclusive.

Undeniably there is very little that ever happens that can please everybody equally. But there should be no doubt that at that meeting the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY supported the off-leash initiative. Toots, if the City so completely ignored your opinions it's only because those opinions -- whatever they were -- did not represent the voice of the people. It sounds grandiose, I know, but that's how our system works.

Meanwhile, don't be rash and put your house on the market quite yet. This park will be done right and will enhance your fine neighborhood. If you let yourself, you and your pooch just may like it.

Posted by: dave at August 13, 2004 05:01 PM