Elizabeth Burnett throws a toy for her dog Cocoa at the Osoyoos Off-Leash Dog Park. When Burnett heard there was a proposal to turn the park into a baseball diamond, she began circulating a petition calling for the popular dog park to remain where it is. Council on Monday voted to move the dog park nearby. (Keith Lacey file photo)

Town of Osoyoos council has voted to return the current Osoyoos Off-Leash Dog Park into its former use as a minor baseball facility, while committing to building a new dog park only metres from its current home by next spring.

Council also voted in favour of looking at building a second off-leash dog park at Kinsmen Park on the east side of town as part of its upcoming 2018 budget deliberations.

The new off-leash dog park on the West Bench will be erected at the former BMX track area, located only a stones-throw from the current park.

In July, leaders of the Osoyoos Minor Baseball Association asked council to return the current dog park to its original intended use as a minor baseball facility.

A petition signed by close to 400 local residents several weeks later opposed that recommendation asking council to keep the dog park where it is, stating it has been heavily used by dog owners and their pets since the day it opened more than five years ago.

At Monday’s regular meeting of town council, Mayor Sue McKortoff told a packed council chambers that she has received more

e-mails and phone calls about the dog park versus ball diamond debate than any other issue during her three years in the mayor’s chair.

“It has been a very contentious issue,” she said.

It’s the responsibility of members of council to look closely at all issues affecting residents and do what’s best for the community, knowing full well you can’t please everyone, especially with polarizing issues like this one, said McKortoff.

“In many cases, we have to try and make a compromise,” she said.

The former BMX track was built by well-known construction company owner Len McLean and there are no plans to use this space for this purpose now or in the future, said Gerald Davis, the town’s director of community services, who presented a detailed report for Monday’s council meeting.

Dog owners will be able to use the area around the ball diamonds as an off-leash dog area until the BMX track site is repurposed into an off-leash area, said Davis.

Council didn’t discuss options to build a minor ball facility in the infield at Desert Park.

Davis told council the proposed solution resolved a number of concerns for the community.

“The community’s long-term vision is to make the community more family-friendly in an effort to attract and retain families,” he said. “The community is supportive of dog users in its supply of public dog beaches and is supportive in its goal of continuing to provide an off-leash area facility that meets the needs of dog owners.”

He noted as well that using the BMX area next to the West Bench facility eliminated a “wasteland area of weeds and puncture vine” and created an additional grass area for recycling water.

Coun. C. J. Rhodes also acknowledged that he’s also received dozens of phone calls and e-mails in the past few weeks relating to this issue.

“It has been a very polarizing issue over the last little while,” he said.

Making a final decision about repurposing the dog park to build a minor baseball facility and building a new dog park isn’t about members of council taking sides, but looking at what’s best for the community as a whole, said Rhodes, who played a key role in ensuring the current dog park was built five years ago.

“It’s not picking one over the other or being insensitive to one user group over the other,” he said.

It’s about “looking at all the options” and making a decision based on what’s best for the community, said Rhodes.

Rhodes suggested “a coalition” of community members agree to work together to ensure any new dog park is “as good or better than the one we have now.”

McKortoff asked Davis if a new dog park near the BMX track site could be operational by next spring and Davis believed that would not be a problem.

“Until that time, it (current dog park) will definitely be used as a dog park,” he said.

Converting the dog park to a minor ball facility will include removing a gazebo, repairing the infield and installing shale, covering the existing dugouts or creating new ones and adding and replacing fencing, said Davis.

The cost of 200 cubic yards of shale would be in the range of $17,000, said Davis in his report.

The old BMX site is no longer in use and is overgrown with weeds and puncturevine, but can be levelled and improved quickly, said Davis.

Barry Romanko, the Town’s chief administrative officer, said a report will be prepared itemizing the costs to repurpose the dog park into a minor ball facility and turning the BMX site into a new dog park in time for the next meeting of council in early November.

Rhodes said a strong group of community citizens worked well together to form the current dog park and he sees no reason why another coalition working together won’t achieve the same success at the BMX site.

“A coalition like this can be a very good thing in our community,” he said.

Because there has been opposition to opening a second off-leash dog park at Kinsmen Park, members of council will have the time to consider all their options about this site during upcoming budget deliberations, said Rhodes.

It would cost roughly $3,400 to install fencing to separate the proposed Kinsmen Park dog park from the current play area, said Davis.

It’s not expected that any other significant costs would have to be incurred should council vote to open a second dog park at Kinsmen Park during budget deliberations, said Romanko.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times