Pioneer Press Article on Lilydale OLA

[Jan Carr]

this article appeared in the Sunday (10-17-09) edition of the Pioneer
Press:

St. Paul may be ready to unleash another dog park
Lilydale would be city's second area
By Dave Orrick
dor...@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 10/18/2009 10:11:47 AM CDT

Link: http://www.twincities.com/ci_13579718?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com
(see comments section)


St. Paul is about to be one step closer to having another off-leash
dog park in its inventory.

On Wednesday, the city council will hold a public hearing and vote on
changes to an aging master plan for the Lilydale segment of Lilydale-
Harriet Island Regional Park, which hugs the west bank of the
Mississippi River from the High Bridge upstream toward the Interstate
35E bridge.
Among the changes is the designation of an 8.5-acre area — likely a
prairie — where dog owners could unleash their pooches to grab a
Frisbee, practice hunting retrieving or just run around.

In the past year, advocates for such areas have become a powerful
force in St. Paul and Ramsey County politics, as they've packed public
meetings and raised awareness of St. Paul's dearth of off-leash
areas.

Currently, the city operates only one, in Arlington/Arkwright Park on
the East Side. Ramsey County operates four parks, with Battle Creek
Regional Park on the Maplewood border being the closest to St. Paul.
While Lilydale is technically in Dakota County — it's operated by St.
Paul — dog-park advocates note that a park there would provide access
for a different region of the city.

"It's especially appropriate for all the folks on Lexington Avenue and
in Mac-Groveland," said Jan Carr, a St. Paul resident who founded
STPdog (St. Paul Dog Owners Group) and sits on a city advisory board
on the topic.

The city's Parks Commission has signed off on the plan, and approval
Advertisement appears likely from the city council. Next, the
Metropolitan Council will have to vote on it. But it's not without
opposition.

"The whole thing was hijacked by the dog park people, and we were
completely blindsided," said Gjerry Berquist, an active resident of
the West Side neighborhood who leads a small but vocal group of
critics. "To clean up this area and then put a dog park in there is
pretty offensive."

Berquist is referring to the overall direction of the proposed changes
to the master plan, which envision some $13.7 million worth of work to
make the Lilydale unit more accessible but also more natural. The
current master plan, from 1991, calls for an RV campground and a
heavily developed swimming beach at Pickerel Lake. Neighbors in the
area objected to that, and many aspects of the new vision, including
building open picnic shelters and moving an access road away from the
river's edge, are the result of desires of neighbors and groups like
Friends of Lilydale Park.

Much of the $13.7 million vision remains unfunded, but if the plan
moves forward, work could begin as soon as next spring on the area
that would include the dog park. Roughly $1.5 million from the recent
Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment — a voter-approved state sales-
tax fund — would go toward cleaning up remnants of the old Lilydale
community, including razed buildings and dumps that remain buried
beneath fill.

Developing the dog area, including native plantings and trails, is
projected to cost an additional $75,000 to $100,000, according to
Alice Messer, a landscape architect with the city's Department of
Parks and Recreation.

Carr said he believes dog park opposition is largely based on
misunderstanding. "Generally speaking, there is opposition to dog
parks here, as in elsewhere in the country, and I think it's really
anti-dog bias that says you have to spend money on kids, not dogs," he
said. "But we have plenty of tot lots in the city, and these dog parks
aren't there for the dogs. They're there for the dog owners. What I
really want to do, as a park user, is go somewhere where I can take my
dog."

[Jon Kerr]

Thanks Jan.
We had missed it. But as you can see we are responding both publicly and
internally (WSCO). I also talked with the reporter who will be covering
it tomorrow.
See you there and we'll be loaded for bear, if necessary.
Jon