I waited until the rain had eased today before taking my dog to our local park for a walk and a bit of fun with her ball. I go there every day. The park was empty when I got there, then slowly filled up with fellow dog walkers, a woman taking a brisk walk, and a few families who showed up to play basketball.
Saanich council appears to hate these typical days. The new People, Pets and Parks strategy will mean that everyone wanting to play with their dog off-leash in Saanich will have to go to one of only 57 parks out of the 171 parks in Saanich. And only 11 of those parks and one beach will be fully off-leash. There’ll be 12 more with small fenced areas inside larger parks, and 46 of those 57 parks will have leash restrictions of some kind.
Saanich is ‘offering’ these 57 parks to the estimated 10-20, 000 families with dogs, despite the fact that all of them are already off-leash. Despite the fact that Saanich’s own data shows that the vast majority (73%) of daily park users are dog owners like me and despite the fact that two-thirds of Saanich residents have no concerns about off-leash dogs in parks.
The proposed changes seem to respond to the views of a minority of park users who would prefer all off-leash areas be removed and park access by dogs and their owners severely curtailed.
My park is going to be ruined as a place of community where I see my neighbours and chat about our day. It’s been one of the daily pleasures of my life. I’ve gotten to know neighbours’ kids and their dogs, watch kids learn to ride a bike or climb a tree. And all while my dog and I have a good lark throwing a ball. Instead, people like me with dogs will be compressed into ever smaller, ever more crowded spaces.
And of course, it’s all going to cost taxpayers $4-7 million over the next five years. I can’t help but remember that Mayor Murdock and his election team assured me, on my doorstep, that he thought the current bylaws were entirely sufficient. None of the candidates running for council declared their intention to impose such drastic change in how so many Saanich residents use the parks we pay for with our taxes. I won’t be voting for any of them next time round.
Saanich’s People, Pets and Park strategy is an extreme and unnecessary proposal. It must be rejected by council.
Susan Hamilton
Saanich
