Several community members showed up to say their piece during the the city's virtual public engagement session on whether Willoughby Park should keep its off-leash designation.
Neil M. Ross and Keenooshayo Public Elementary schools neighbour the park. In June 2021, both schools and their respective parent council groups jointly put in an official request with the city to remove the off-leash designation from the park. The request kicked off a public feedback gathering process on the city’s part, which began with the virtual feedback session.
The Jan. 19 session took place on Zoom, and at its height saw more than 60 participants. Starting with a quick survey to pinpoint each attendant’s connection to the park, the session included a brief presentation before participants were split into breakout rooms of around seven participants each to give feedback.
A survey taken at the onset of the meeting said 61 per cent of meeting attendees use the park daily.
Dean McMullan, a project co-ordinator with the City of St. Albert, followed the survey with background on the request to remove the off-leash designation from the park and its enclosed rink area.
McMullan said issues put forward by the schools include conflict between school staff and dog owners surrounding the interaction of dogs and school students both on and off school property.
Applicants also described “several accounts” of aggressive dogs approaching and interacting with students, McMullan said.
McMullan also said the applicants expressed “significant sanitary issues” with dog feces in play areas including the playground, soccer fields, and boarded rink area.
“Considerable time is spent during recess and physical education class time cleaning up dog feces prior to children using the area,” McMullan said, noting the dog poop is often tracked back into the school after sticking to children’s footwear.
Breakout rooms discussed three questions: what their experience in the park and surrounding field area has been; what the city should consider in responding to the change request; and how often they use the park with their dogs (if they are a dog owner). Groups had 20 minutes to answer each question.
At the end of the session, participants typed potential future solutions in the Zoom chat. More bylaw enforcement and increased monitoring of the park site, better signage, designated off-leash hours, fencing, locating a new off-leash location nearby, enhanced communication between the school community and dog owners, and educating children who attend the schools were some possible solutions offered up by attendees.
Now that the initial virtual workshop is complete, the city will open an online survey from Feb. 14-27 to gather additional feedback.
The city will review the feedback from Feb. 28 until April 1, and share a final decision with the public through a report on the city’s website April 29.
Session 'worked very well'
Peter Jansen, a Woodlands resident who attended the feedback gathering session, said he felt the session “worked very well.”
“Everybody was very respectful to each other,” Jansen said, adding that he also felt the questions were valid, and that he was able to highlight his concerns if a question didn’t quite touch on what he wanted to stay.
Jansen said he feels the heart of the conflict in the dog park is about being “socially conscious.” Specifically, Jansen said dog owners need to be more responsible by cleaning up after dogs and keeping them in sight.
“It has less to do with dogs,” Jansen said. “In other words, it’s the people with the dogs that matter.”
Jansen said he thinks it’s significant that several residents in the Zoom meeting said they purchased homes in the area to use the park.
“There’s got to be a compromise here,” Jansen said. “It’s either going to be a compromise, or it’s going to be a confrontation.”
