Bowing to neighborhood protests, Santa Rosa agrees to move disputed dog park

Santa Rosa agreed Tuesday to move a public dog park after neighbors howled in protest that it was too close to their homes and had forced them to listen to incessant barking for years.

Lisa Grant, the city’s parks superintendent, said neighbors of the Gads Hill Street area just across Santa Rosa Creek from A Place to Play park had been complaining regularly about a “constant chorus of dog barking” from the canine area that was installed at the northern edge of the park in 2010.

Resident John Donnellan said he has complained about the dog park “quite frequently” and intimated he would sue if the city didn’t move it away from his home.

“We as homeowners have civil rights, under the California civil code, to full use and enjoyment of our property,” Donnellan said.

Part of the problem is that the dog park, which was built by Boy Scouts, was never approved by the City Council.

The site is one of many examples of public uses that have “grown organically” and were never formalized with changes to the master plan for the 83-acre recreational complex, which can be done only by the council, Grant said.

Many park features were installed under previous park administrations without proper approvals. A miniature steam railroad was installed in Youth Community Park and was operated by a community group for years before it was approved by the council in 2014.

In addition to the dog park at A Place to Play, the city is proposing to move a track for remote-controlled cars that is maintained by a hobby club.

Some council members didn’t like the idea of approving uses in the park just because they were already there.

“It has ‘grown organically’ is a nice way of saying it was done without oversight, which makes me extremely uncomfortable,” Councilwoman Erin Carlstrom said.

Mayor John Sawyer agreed. “We’ve had a number of these ‘organic uses’ that have come back to bite us,” he said.

Councilman Ernesto Olivares said he didn’t think the master plan for a city park focused on sports should be redrafted on the fly without more community input. Councilman Gary Wysocky expressed concern that the new dog park, in the center of the park, would be displacing a planned baseball field and the new spot for the track would take up space designated for basketball courts.

Nanette Smejkal, director of the city’s Recreation and Parks Department, cautioned against clinging too tightly to features in a master plan the city can’t afford to build.

“I think the original vision is great, but we don’t have the money to realize that vision,” Smejkal said.

Some residents said it was silly for the city to spend additional money to move something that was already built.

The city expects to spend $30,000 to $50,000 to build a new dog park closer to West Third Street. Terry Hilton said he submitted a petition with 150 signatures of people who wanted the existing park to remain right where it is.

But the council agreed on a 6-1 vote, with Wysocky voting no, to move the dog park. The council voted 5-2, with Wysocky and Olivares voting no, to move the remote-controlled car track.

City Manager Sean McGlynn said he had instructed parks staff to survey park facilities and make sure everything had been installed with the proper approval by the council if required. He hinted that more such instances may be discovered.

“There may be future conversations that are uncomfortable,” McGlynn said.

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