Shoreline off-leash park pilot sites selected

Wednesday night, October 29th, the City of Shoreline held a public presentation announcing the two off-leash pilot sites selected by the Off-Leash Dog Area (OLDA) study group and approved by the Park Board on Oct. 23rd.

OLDA made their presentation including history of the project, the process and criteria they used, and their final recommendations (see below). The public then asked questions and made comments. Comment forms and a copy of the presentation will be posted on the City's site soon.

The two pilot sites are:

1. Richmond Beach Saltwater Park (South End) - originally the north end by the dunes was also proposed but only the south end has been selected for a pilot site. It is proposed that this site will be timed use. The timeframe that this site will be open for off-leash use has not yet been determined but it is likely to exclude the summer months.















2. Shoreview Park - this site was not one of the original "six most promising sites" selected because the SCC Greenwood lot was proposed. There have been ownership issues that prevent us from pursuing the Greenwood lot, so OLDA took a closer look at the Shoreview site (formerly used as parking for SCC and referred to as "the pit"). It is accessible from the Shoreview Parking lot by the tennis courts and also from the SCC parking lot. This will be more of a traditional style dog park.

Next Steps: The pilot sites will be presented to the City Council at their next meeting (Dec or Jan - date has not yet been determined) and environmental studies are currently in the works. City Councilmembers Janet Way and Doris McConnell were in attendance at the public presentation. If all goes well, Shoreview may open in Spring of 2009 and Richmond Beach in Winter of 2009.

Shoredog members were also present at the meeting and encouraged people to join their mailing list and become involved in their organization which will be the stewards of these sites. Shoredog will be hosting a field trip to the two sites on Sat. 11/22 at 11am, meeting in front of the Central Market Food Court.

Link to Shoredog site here.
Link to Ronald Bog Blog's other posts about the off-leash park project here.

ShoreDog meeting this Saturday; discuss off-leash areas!

Got a restless pup? Tired of driving out of the area to visit an off-leash dog park? You might be interested in the upcoming ShoreDog meeting, this Saturday at Lake Forest Park Third Place Commons meeting room, from 11:00 am to noon. Be there to discuss the potential sites for Shoreline's proposed off-leash park, and consider joining ShoreDog to support the project. See you there!

If you're a dog owner, or have some opinions on where the park should be, you can post your thoughts here by clicking "Comments" under this post.

Update on Off-Leash Dog Park(s)

The City of Shoreline has updated their website with new information about the "Off-Leash Dog Areas (OLDA) Pilot Project" There were 38 sites looked at originally as possibilities for off-leash dog parks in Shoreline. Those 38 sites were whittled down to 14 that met the necessary criteria, and then further whittled down to the 6 "most promising" sites. And it looks like the city is considering multiple off-leash dog parks in Shoreline.

The 6 sites chosen as "most promising" are at the following locations:

• Richmond Beach Saltwater Park
• North City Park
• Aldercrest Annex
• Hamlin Park
• A parking lot at Shoreline Community College
• Open Space at Metro Transit's North Base
  

The "OLDA" study group will take public comment throughout the summer of 2008 on these proposed sites, select pilot sites, improve those sites as needed and actually implement the pilot sites (for a 12 month test phase) in the spring of 2009.

The City's website has lots more information and links to pdf files with maps of the sites in question, as well as a FAQ sheet, history of the project, and more.

Link to: The City's webpage with updated info about the project