A dog park in Transcona, part of a new subdivision that received final approval from Winnipeg city council last week, will be large enough to attract dog owners from outside the subdivision, according to the city councillor who made it happen.
Russ Wyatt says he’s pretty excited about it.
“It’s the first dog park being built in a new subdivision on the ground like this,” he said. “Its never been done before, so it’s really neat.”
Wyatt said it will fill a growing need in the city.
“There’s no doubt we’re playing catch up as a city when it comes to dog parks, compared to other cities in Canada and North America, so this’ll be really a nice amenity I think for that neighbourhood.”
Wyatt said it makes more sense requiring a developer to include a dog park in new projects, given that putting a dog park in existing parks is difficult.
“The challenge always has been in Winnipeg, as an older city compared to a lot of cities in western Canada, … bringing dog parks into existing parks often can cause conflict between home owners, residents who want the dog park and those who don’t. So the benefit of having something like this, a new community starting on the ground, is really something which makes it possible to introduce a dog park.”
Wyatt made including a dog park in Genstar’s application to build the new subdivision, to be called Devonshire Village, a requirement.
“I don’t mind telling you we’ve never done this before,” he said. “So we’re going to need some guidance from the city and certainly from our experts and consultants on exactly what would be appropriate.”
Boles said it will be a city park, but for the first two years, Genstar will be responsible for maintaining it. It will be located right behind the Costco on Regent Avenue.
“This is a joint venture with the city of Winnipeg. We think that a good spot for it would be in the higher density area (of the subdivision), where we’ve got a big green space right in the far south area,“ he said.
He said it’s premature to say what the exact size of the park will be or how much Genstar will spend building it. But some things are for sure. The dog park will be fenced and will include up to 50 trees.
And next to it will be a naturalized retention pond.
“I’m really excited about it. There are people living in a condo or apartment that have a dog, and they want a place to just let it go and tear around for a while . This will be the place to do it.”
Boles said Genstar will break ground on the development next year, and the park will probably be ready to go late in the summer of 2015.
He said he has every intention of bringing his own dog, 11-year-old Mickey, a border collie cross, to have a sniff.
“She’s getting a little older, but she’s still pretty active.”
“It’ll be a decent size,” he said. “It’ll be a number of acres and it’ll be an area where you can go and let your dogs run and stretch their legs and spend some quality time with them.”
Wyatt credited people in the community for lobbying for more off-leash areas, especially Kilcona Park Dog Club, which has seen a big growth in the number of visitors.
“They’ve brought a new awareness in terms of what the value of these parks are and also the need in terms of having more dog parks in the city.”
And Wyatt said the city needn’t stop at creating just one new off-leash dog park.
“Hopefully this is the first of others. Hopefully it’ll catch on and we’ll see other dog parks created like this in new subdivisions. Because, when folks move into this area, they know there’s a dog park here. It’s not a question of the dog park coming after the fact and causing conflict or disruption in the neighbourhood.”