PORT ANGELES — Should dogs be allowed to run free at Charles Wilson Park, a city park on Seventh Street in the area between the Eighth Street bridges?
That’s the question that Deputy Recreation Director Richard Bonine wants the public to answer at a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the park, 511 W. Seventh St.
Bonine is proposing that what he sees as an under-used park, about an acre in size, be used as the city’s first off-leash dog park, but he said he will approve the change in use only if the neighborhood supports the idea.
“If this does come to fruition, it would be a community-driven event,” he said.
Bonine said he is suggesting Charles Wilson Park for a dog park because it is used mostly by dog owners and their pets and is already fenced off.
He began handing out fliers informing residents of the meeting to homes near the park Tuesday.
The one resident home at the time, Rick Marti, said he supports the idea.
“That’s great. It’s de facto what it is now,” he said, referring to the dog owners who make up the most frequent users of the park.
“You would be calling it what it really is.”
Seeks funding
But as with previous proposals for dog parks in Port Angeles, this one would have to be funded by volunteers, Bonine said.
“There is no money in the budget right now,” he said.
To become a proper recreation area for dogs, the park would need more gates and another fence, Bonine said.
The new fence would separate the big dogs from the little dogs, and the dogs from the children using the park’s slide and swing set.
The park’s basketball hoop likely would be removed, but the other equipment would probably stay in place, Bonine said.
He said the idea did receive the support of the city Parks, Recreation & Beautification Commission on June 16.
In 2007, the commission also gave its support for a dog park proposal at Lincoln Park.
Funding for an off-leash dog area at Lincoln Park fell through about a year ago due to rising costs of materials, said Jennifer Holcomb, 44, one of the dog park proponents who received the go-ahead about two years ago.
“The economy got us,” she said Wednesday. “We put it on the back burner and were going to revisit it when it looked less bleak as far as the economic conditions.”
Group supports idea
A group calling itself the Port Angeles Dog Park Committee also sought a dog park at Lincoln Park in 2003, but nothing came of the proposal.
Holcomb said she told Bonine last week that Charles Wilson Park will suit dogs and their owners just fine.
“I told him I was 100 percent supportive of it,” she said, “because I really feel we need a dog park in the community.
“It’s good for the dogs, for one, and there is a sense of community with the owners of the dogs. And they get to know each other as well.”
Holcomb said she will support the idea any way she can.
A dog park in Port Angeles would be the second of its kind in Clallam County.
Sequim has had a 1-acre dog park in Carrie Blake Park since April 2007.
Bonine said he would like to see the park sponsored by a group of local dog lovers.
The city’s park sponsorship policy, enacted this year to offset decreased funding for park facilities, has resulted in the adoption of eight neighborhood parks.
Those parks are the A and C street lookouts, Milwaukee Heights Tot-lot, Georgiana Park, James View Point, Wolverton Park, Sail & Paddle Park and Harborview Park.
The sponsors of the parks volunteer to mow the grass, pull weeds, trim hedges and keep up other such maintenance of the facilities.
“I am very pleased and encouraged that the Port Angeles community has stepped forward to show their support of neighborhood parks,” he said.
“This tells me that the community considers parks and recreation to be an essential core service.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
