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May 21, 2008, Five Cities Times Press Recorder
Grover Beach council considers creating interim dog park
By Mike Hodgson/Associate Editor
Dog owners who howled when Grover Beach forced them to stop using a grassy drainage basin as an unofficial off-leash park may soon have a reason to celebrate.
The City Council is considering a proposal to create a dog park — at least temporarily — on a site known as the Cleaver property on South 13th Street.
Council members Monday night came close to adopting an interim dog park as the preferred option for the .84-acre property but decided to delay taking action until the June 2 council meeting.
That will allow the architect to add restrooms and more parking to the design, city staff to come up with an estimated cost and a group of dog park advocates to consider assuming supervision and maintenance of the facility.
“I was sitting here when we had to make difficult decisions on Costa Bella,” said Councilman Steve Lieberman, referring to the city’s decision to enforce the leash law at the unofficial dog park.
“I’m still uncertain what the ultimate use should be” for the Cleaver property, he said. “I would hope we would consider an interim dog park.”
Lieberman initially seconded a motion by Councilman Chuck Ashton to make an interim dog park the preferred alternative, but he withdrew that second primarily over concerns about the costs.
Councilman Bill Nicolls also expressed concern about spending money to create a facility that would be used by a relatively small portion of the city’s population.
Kathy Petker, parks and recreation director, told Nicolls an estimated 10 to 30 people a day used the unofficial dog park, and likely many of them returned day after day.
Nicolls said even if 100 different people used the park, that represented just seven-tenths of 1 percent of the city’s population.
“The use of that much property for seven-tenths of 1 percent of the people who live in this community causes me some concern,” he said, noting even 200 people would only be 1.5 percent.
“That seems like an awfully low number for what the city would have to pay to develop and maintain it,” he said, adding that using it for children, senior citizen and community programs would provide “more bang for the buck.”
The meeting was attended by a number of Five Cities Dog Park Association members who offered the only public comments about the use of the site.
“There really is a community need for this park,” said Ray Quintana, a resident of Grover Beach and vice president of the association, estimating some 30 percent of city households have dogs.
“When you talk about less than 1 percent ... I’m sure less than 1 percent use the tennis courts,” he said.
Quintana said more than 30 people used the Costa Bella unofficial dog park daily, with people from all over the Five Cities area coming and going from dawn to dusk, and more would have used the site if it had been fenced for safety.
He said if the city wants the association to assume maintenance, he would take that proposal back to the association’s board for consideration.
“We really want to help,” he said. “We would appreciate it if the city of Grover Beach would help us.”
An interim dog park was one of four proposed designs created by landscape architect David Foote of firma in San Luis Obispo at the request of lawyer Clifford Clark, who managed the property for the Cleaver family.
The Cleavers decided to deed the site to the city once the last family member died providing the land was used to develop a park. If the city fails to do that, it will revert to the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Home.
Foote’s other three designs included a permanent dog park; a passive neighborhood park, with children’s play structures, a basketball half-court, a looping trail, picnic tables and benches; and a small community center that might cater to seniors or children’s programs.
Council members also seemed to favor the community center as the long-term use, replacing the interim dog park once funding is available to build the center.
But they were concerned about constraints posed by a giant oak that led Foote to design a small building on the back of the lot to preserve what he called a “landmark tree.”
Council members said they would prefer a larger facility on the front of the lot with parking in the back, noting that because of the tree’s age, its health and longevity are questionable.
Uncertainty about the oak’s future, funding to construct a community center and the success or failure of the dog park led the council to hold off on designating a community center the preferred long-term option.