Most homeowners on West McDougal Road along the pipeline corridor do not want a dog park located there. It is difficult to argue that the homes where the parking lot will be located would not have their property values reduced; the rest of the homes are also at risk of having their property values fall. Proponents have argued that this claim is false and property values will not decrease, however no proponent is being forced to take this risk.
There are studies on the Internet that state that off-leash parks should not be established immediately next to a residential area – such as the American Veterinary Behavioural Medicine Centre on dog parks. One town official used New York City as an example where dog parks have been placed in residential area (NYC, Really?). Large populated urban areas are not comparable because they do not have the space. I am beginning to understand the mentality of the town administration steamrolling over residents of West McDougal.
A town official has stated that 50 per cent of Cochrane homes have a dog. I find this hard to believe, no statistics have been provided to backup this claim. I would guess 35 per cent is probably be more likely, my home included. I do not use off-leash dog parks, I have a small dog that gets scared when larger dogs come to play. Many dog owners have similar reason why they will not use a dog park. There has been $300,000 in taxes allocated to build this park for less than one-third of our town.
I have suggested we use some of the land in Cochrane Ranche. This park as 136 acres, existing infrastructure and is centrally located. Town officials told us that because of the historical nature of this park that the province would not allow an off-leash dog park to be located there – this claim is false. There is a of unused land here and I am not suggesting that we use current public space. This suggestion would not impact on residential homes, would be less expensive for taxpayers and be similar to what other communities have done – a dog park inside a large park.
If there are many people in Cochrane who do not want to use Cochrane Ranche, then maybe a dog park is not needed at all.
Oran Arsmtrong.
