Council Washes Hands of Dog Park

By Tu-Uyen Tran, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

Jan. 3–Efforts to build an off-leash dog park in Grand Forks appear to have taken a step backward Tuesday after City Council members said they didn’t want the city involved in the project.

Besides shutting down the possibility of putting the park on the city-owned Greenway, council members also indicated the city would not have any funding available.

Talk to the Park District, several council members suggested to Nancy Joyner, a dog park advocate who came with a list of 1,667 signatures in favor of the park, most of them Grand Forks residents.

Joyner’s loosely organized group, Roaming Paws, has been working on the project for several months, though the project has a development history going back more than four years. It still lacks location and funding as it did back then.

For funding, Joyner had suggested using Greenway betterment funds, money set aside to improve that system of trails and parks that sit astride the new dike system. She also suggested using dog-licensing fees, which many do not now pay.

If dog licenses are anything to go by, there are only 448 dogs in all of Grand Forks. Joyner estimated there are 8,000 to 10,000.

The problem with her suggestions, as council members indicated, is they’re not too keen to put the dog park on the Greenway in the first place. City engineering staff had opposed Greenway locations because fencing for the park would snag debris during flood season and, potentially, impede the river from draining north.

The licensing fees also are a problem, according to finance director John Schmisek. The city is working to encourage dog owners to license their pets, but, he said, much of that money would go to the Grand Forks Humane Society to pay for animal control.

The council’s reticence had a lot to do with homeowners groaning under the burden of higher property taxes.

Council member Art Bakken said he’s heard plenty of negative comments about the dog park. People always tell him, “‘Our taxes are high enough,’” he said. “‘I hate my taxes.’”

Council member Doug Christensen suggested that, maybe, Roaming Paws could find a way to fund the park privately.

After the meeting, Joyner said she’ll talk to the Park District next but isn’t confident there’s much funding to be had there, either. District officials told her they’re already allocating funds for a dog park to the Humane Society as part of its expansion, she said, but that project is expected to be delayed because the expansion plans have increased in scope.

In the past, Roaming Paws advocates have said the Humane Society dog park also is at a relatively remote location outside of town, unlike the Greenway locations they favored.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

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