Kelowna

Supply is meeting demand when it comes to on-leash dog parks available within the City of Kelowna.

Photo: Castanet Staff

City Council will be asked Monday to add 10 new on-leash parks to the list of those already available to dogs and their owners.

If approved, this would bring to 93 the number of on-leash dog parks within the city with the total area available increasing to approximately 795.52 hectares.

The 10 news parks being recommended include:

• Shetland Linear Park - 310 Shetland Road. 0.60 hectares
• Bellevue Creek Greenway between Varney Court and Gordon Drive - 781 Varney Court. 0.1 hectares
• Kuipers Peak Park - 792 Kuipers Court. 10.80 hectares
• Lochview Trail - Lochview Road Beach Access. 1.10 hectares
• Mount Royal Open Space - 715 Royal View Drive. 7.2 hectares
• Black Mountain Trails - 1035 Stockley Street. 9.0 hectares
• Hill Spring Park - At The Ponds. 3.5 hectares
• Mill Creek Linear Park - 1991 Ethel Street. 0.26 hectares
• Dewdney #1 Beach Access - South of 1844 Dewdney Road. .02 hectares
• Abbott Neighbourhood Park - 2955 Abbott Street. 0.72 hectares

"There is a high demand in Kelowna for dog facilities in public parkland as the community continues to grow and the popularity of exercising dogs in public spaces continues to rise," says Park Planner, Barb Davidson in her report to council.

Davidson adds that staff did follow guidelines previously established by the city for on-leash dog parks, including:

• A trail must go through a park
• Dogs should be separated from and not allowed in children's playground equipment/areas, swimming areas and sports fields and not negatively impact riparian/environmental areas
• Signs need to be placed in the parks to make the general public aware that dogs are permitted on the trail and to identify areas not appropriate for dog use.

While 10 news on-leash areas are being recommended, the city is also proposing to delete 10 recreation corridors from the bylaw.

According to Davidson the corridors are not parks and are instead considered an extension of the sidewalk network where dogs on-leash are already a permitted use.

To avoid confusion, Davidson says staff are recommending those recreation corridors be removed from the bylaw.