Lethbridge scraps plans for off-leash dog parks after community feedback

The City of Lethbridge is going back to the drawing board over its proposed off-leash dog parks based on a great deal of negative comments from residents. (Pexels)

The City of Lethbridge says it reached out to residents about six proposals for off-leash dog parks in the community and that feedback helped them decide not to go ahead with any of them.

Officials voted unanimously on Tuesday to scrap all of the proposed locations and instead work to refine the criteria and design standards for new dog parks.

Administrators will also consider city-owned underutilized land for these facilities.

Those decisions were based on the large proportion of negative comments they received about all six of the proposed locations, according to the results of the public engagement study.

The report says 56.7 per cent of comments were negative, but only 18.9 per cent were positive.

Some of the main issues identified by residents included safety concerns for their children playing in the areas, limited parking and a possible lack of enforcement.

"Residents are in favour of additional dog parks, but not in existing residential neighbourhoods," the report read.

The city says it's a "great example" of council working with and responding to residents' concerns.

"On behalf of city council, I want to thank our residents for actively participating and providing us with their valued feedback," said acting Mayor Ryan Parker in a release.

"(We) are eager to find new opportunities to add new off-leash dog parks in the future, in a way that can be best suited for all of our residents," said Blair Richter Lethbridge's general manager of parks & cemeteries.

In November 2021, the city asked administrations to look at options to add more off-leash dog parks. The first phase of that report, which came back in spring 2022, recommended six locations – two in the north, two in the south and two in the west.

The public engagement survey opened in January 2023 to all residents but also gathered details on how close they lived to any of the proposed sites.

The full community engagement report can be found online.