On Wednesday, February 10, the City Council voted to accept the Park and Recreation Commission's "Dog Park Expansion" Committee's report. The report was contested by many as to how thorough and factual its contents were based on the short time frame they had to complete it, and the fact that many affected stakeholders and neighbors claim they they were unaware that dog park expansion was even being proposed. The Council could have sent it back to the committee but opted to accepted it, and, in turn, vote against any further expansion at this time. Moving forward is the creation of a Encinitas Master Plan for dog parks. When, how and who will be involved in this process is unknown at this time. Initially, the city was going to wait until the Hall property was developed to create a master plan, but with the magnitude of this issue it became evident that the city needs to address dog use sooner than later. "Hopefully the city will allow us, the community, the neighbors and stakeholders to participate in the master plan process," states Steve Meiche, an outspoken resident who lives near Orpheus Park. He continues, "The city has not been very good at including us or listening to us, it's a shame that things had to get to this level, but I'm glad we are moving forward." Meiche partnered up with neighbors of Hawk View and Glen parks, the proposed expansion parks. Utilizing YouTube videos to document the poor conditions of Orpheus Park and lack of rule enforcement, they were successful in finally getting the attention of the City Council, and expressing that additional expansion would have been irresponsible. Meiche, who many believe is against dog parks, feels he's getting a bum rap. "I'm all for dog parks or leash free parks, I have lived across from Orpheus park for 20 years and used it to run my dogs before it was even a park. We still use it today, responsibly. It's just that it has grown in popularity and has attracted people from all over the county. People are using it all day everyday as a leash-free zone and increased maintenance and enforcement were not addressed." Meiche does believe that adding more parks will help, but creating a master plan and addressing all of the lessons learned is the best way to go. Asked if he wanted leash free dogs banned from Orpheus park he said, "No way. We the neighbors of the park have a plan to share the park and preserve the park in a clean and healthy manner. We have a committee of moderates from both sides, and we have discussed it and have agreed on parameters of leash-free use that would accommodate the neighbors' needs and maintain the City's General Plan definition for Neighborhood Parks. It could be a model for the city. They just have to give us the opportunity and listen to us. We can fix it together and everyone will win."
Community unity and reversing the polarization of the two sides now is really up to the city. Allowing stakeholders the opportunity to participate in the master planning of future dog parks is a start.
At the time of this writing no one from PADZ has contacted the blog. Their position remains unclear.
