Dog park plan moves forward despite disgruntled neighbors
By Jeana Diacono Special to the Acorn

A Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District official offered last week to meet with residents who are unhappy that a dog park is planned for their neighborhood.

After several residents voiced their disapproval at the June 6 meeting that a portion of Community Center Park is slated to become a daytime hangout for pooches, they left and took up the discussion outside the board room.

General Manager Dan LaBrado later spoke to the group and offered to meet personally with them.

LaBrado said although he's exchanged letters with some residents regarding the dog park, he has never met with them in person and wants the chance to discuss the measures they'll take to mitigate their concerns over unsanitary conditions, traffic, parking and noise.

A date has yet to be set.

Warren Matsui, a 35year resident who lives several dozen feet from where the dog park is planned, said it will ruin their neighborhood with wafting odors and unsightly waste.

"This has everything to do with the park board being a good neighbor," Matsui said. "The park district had a responsibility to benefit the community, but also needs to address the concerns of the neighbors closest to its parks."

Board Chair Patty Hamm said that neighbors within a 500-foot radius of Community Center Park were notified on two separate occasions months ago that the board would be discussing putting a dog park there.

"We did our due diligence- for people to stand up and claim we were doing this without their knowledge is incorrect," Hamm said. "To my knowledge, only two residents showed up that night when we made our decision and neither one spoke and they had that opportunity to do so."

Other residents said they felt powerless after the district bulldozed a hill at the park several weeks ago in what they thought was preparation for the dog park. The knoll held fond memories of watching fiestas and school plays, they said.

"I'm so very disappointed that they took away that little hump," Enid Hartley said. "Now it's gone and for what? A dog park? We don't need a dog park."

LaBrado said that leveling the area was necessary for another project unrelated to the dog park; he expects to begin construction sometime after July.

- Staff writer Michelle Knight

contributed to this story.