Victoria adds off-leash areas
Victoria will test two new dog off-leash areas — one at Fisherman’s Wharf Park and one in Oaklands Park.
Under a one-year pilot, dogs will be allowed to run off-leash between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. in designated areas of both Fisherman’s Wharf Park and Oaklands Park beginning July 1.
“This is meant just to be a pilot program to gather information,” Mayor Lisa Helps said. “If it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work. If it does work, then we get some information back that’s going to help us with the dogs-in-parks strategy and I think that’s very valuable.”
Councillors rejected the idea of testing a summer-mornings off-leash area at Gonzales Beach.
Coun. Ben Isitt said he had concerns about running a pilot at Gonzales Beach because “it is kind of the only saltwater swimming” beach in the city.
He worried about dogs being allowed to defecate on the beach where children and others will be swimming when the tide comes in a few hours later.
Director of parks Thomas Soulliere, who noted that dogs are welcome on the beach from Sept. 1 to May 31, said the expectation was that dog owners would be responsible and clean up after their pets.
But Isitt said he takes no comfort from that. “I hope dog owners are responsible. I’m worried some are not and when I think about dogs in the intertidal zone, I think it’s easier for a dog owner to walk onto the lawn and pick up dog droppings,” Isitt said.
“I know the residents want an offleash area there and I think it’s worth looking at, but I personally think in the summer months, when that beach is the most popular swimming beach in the community, it’s just not a good fit.”
Coun. Geoff Young said he shared some of Isitt’s concerns about Gonzales. “In my experience, dog owners are amazingly responsible in the great majority. Unfortunately, there is a minority of dog owners who are not responsible,” Young said.
Coun. Jeremy Loveday said the issue points to the need for a broader look at the issue of dogs in parks, rather than approving one-off pilots, noting that there’s desire in every neighbourhood for off-leash areas
“So we’re just sort of choosing these two based on who’s presented to council,” Loveday said.
There are about 75 city parks in Victoria, and they include 13 off-leash areas.
With the exception of these off-leash areas and private property, all dogs must be on a leash in Victoria.