By Laurie Watt
 

City of Barrie engineering staff will have to jump over a fence – at a city committee – to get a dog park on the south shore of Kempenfelt Bay.

A plan to convert an area just east of the Southshore Community Centre to a dog off-leash recreation area (DOLRA) includes a $50,000 bill to fence in the area.

“This is a prime piece of waterfront real estate,” said Ward 7 Coun. John Brassard, the chairman of the city’s Community Services Committee.

“There really needs to be more work done to figure out a more suitable and workable location.”
Barrie has been operating a dog park in an area of Sunnidale Park, north of Highway 400 and east of Kidd’s Creek for several years. The specialized area allows dog owners to let their dogs run free and socialize in a protected area.

In the south end, dog owners were using the old Molson Park lands – now known as Park Place ¬– to let their dogs run. Last summer, developer North American Corp. put an end to that use, as it began site work for its mixed-use development.

Barrie estimates there were approximately 4,000 dogs living in the city in 2002, and the canine population continues to grow.

“There is a large untapped recreational need for the development of additional DOLRAs in Barrie and particularly the south end,” infrastructure planning manager Ralph Scheunemann said in a report to council.

He examined three options, the other two being a site near Lackie’s Bush behind a residential area and the second near the Barrie Molson Centre parking lot.

Brassard suggested council refer the item to his committee for further discussion.

Scheunemann said the lakefront site would create an additional destination along the waterfront trail.

With an off-leash park in the area, dog owners would have an incentive to keep their dogs leashed while walking through waterfront parks, such as Centennial Beach.

Brassard, however, said the Allandale Station site would be least convenient for south-end residents and would not solve the lack of a dog park near their homes.

“This isn’t too far in the south end,” he said of the south-shore site. “I’d suspect there’d not be too many people happy having a DOLRA on prime waterfront land.”