Santa Rosa City Council puts off relocation of dog park at A Place to Play

Plans to move a dog park to a new location in A Place to Play Park got chewed up by the Santa Rosa City Council on Tuesday over concerns that neighbors hadn’t been fully informed about the changes.

Park officials want to relocate the dog park away from the northern edge of the West Third Street park following noise complaints by residents of Gads Hill Street, who live across Santa Rosa Creek from the park.

The fenced dog park was installed in 2010 as an Eagle Scout project, but was never reflected on the city’s master plan for the 83-acre recreational complex, which includes six soccer fields and two baseball fields.

The oversight came about because park officials at the time, who have since retired, were in the habit of running such changes by the Board of Community Services but not changing the park master plans, which need approval of the City Council.

Park Superintendent Lisa Grant explained that the Recreation and Parks Department was now trying to find a better home for the dog park, and had settled on a more central area of the park complex. The proposed location would have fresh water, shade trees, and be more than 350 feet away from the closest neighbors, Grant told the council.

But council members expressed reservations about the plan because the department had not told neighbors of the new proposed dog park location.

“People need to know this is happening to their park,” Councilman Ernesto Olivares said.

He said that the residents of Baron Court and West Valley Court who would be closest to the new dog park location ought to have a say in the decision.

In addition to the dog park, a remote-control car track installed in 2012 by hobbyists with the approval of park officials also was never reflected in the master plan. Plans call for moving that track to the west end of the park near the reclaimed water pond.

The dog park would go into an area planned for a future Little League baseball field and the remote-control car track would take the place of future basketball courts. Some council members objected to those plans.

City Manager Sean McGlynn explained that the master plans should have been changed at the time the new uses were begun but weren’t, saying the facilities “grew out of some organic creation.”

“We’ve inherited a situation that isn’t the best situation,” McGlynn said.

Councilwoman Erin Carlstrom expressed frustration that she and her colleagues were yet again being asked to clean up an issue resulting from poor park planning. She referenced the miniature steam railroad in Youth Community Park that the council had to approve in 2014, years after it was installed and began operating.

“We’re basically codifying an illegal use, and I can appreciate that, but I’d really like to not have these conversations too often,” she said.

The council agreed to reach out to neighbors in the same way that it does for land use projects, namely to notice homes within 300 feet of a project, erect a blue sign on the property, and advertise the proposed change in local media. Staff members are set to do that outreach and bring the issue back to the council at a later date.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.