One Foot Off Center: Did Kelowna's new dog run cost too much?

An expensive dog run

Castanet presents One Foot Off Center, a podcast tackling the big issues facing the Okanagan.

Rick Maddison, Ron Mattiussi, Scott Lanigan and Jeff Cox will meet every month to discuss how those issues impact everyday Canadians.

Maddison is a well-known entrepreneur in Kelowna and owner of Tempest Media. Mattiussi is the former chief administrator of the City of Kelowna and has worked in local government across the province.

Lanigan is the lead pastor of Trinity Church, one of Kelowna’s largest churches, who has served with various community groups like Journey Home.

Cox is the founder and CEO of Kelowna-based Simply Benefits.

--

On this week's episode, the panel discusses dog parks in Kelowna.

Specifically, the City park dog run, which had an original, approved budget of $750,000 with an additional $150,000 placed in reserve from a previous project. On Monday, August 25, 2025, council received a request for an additional $450,000 for the dog run.

Maddison says, "the initial cost was a $750K and now it's grown to $1.2 million, and it's spectacular... I wonder if the dogs recognize how nice it is."

Lanigan says, "it's phenomenal, is it $1.2 million phenomenal, or is it that's a little ridiculous, phenomenal.

"I'm all for creating accessible opportunities for individuals who can't go to normal spaces. But at what point does it become a little ridiculous?"

Cox says, "it does seem excessive, considering that you can probably buy my house for the same amount of money."

Mattiussi agrees that the final price tag does seem excessive.

"But there's all kinds of people lobbying for all kinds of things, and you're always balancing. What one person says is a horrible thing. And just having a dog park... some people would judge why we'd be spending money on that at all. Other people are saying that the ones you have are crappy.

"I don't know what's going on with this dog park. It does seem excessive," says Mattiussi.

The conversation also touched on development cost charges (DCCs) and the need to revisit these fees to ensure affordability and fairness, particularly for smaller homes.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.