Barrhaven West, a fast-growing suburb in south-end Ottawa, is slated to become home this year to a new, inclusive dog park for residents’ furry friends to enjoy.
Construction on the Gregory Casey Dog Park is scheduled to begin this summer. Currently, there’s a lack of dog parks in the Barrhaven area and adding the new one is intended to better serve pet owners and promote an active community.
The park will utilize as much land as possible in an existing open area, but there are no water or electrical services on the site. The new space for dogs will be approximately 0.67 hectares in a location southwest of Strandherd Drive.
The proposed dog park is expected to include two separate entrances to two different areas: a small-dog area and a large-dog area to make the facility more accessible, inclusive and safer for the animals. The main entrance will be enclosed to provide secure leashing and un-leashing of dogs.
Within the two dog areas, there is expected to be an asphalt path, “pee posts” and benches. It will also feature a large in-ground waste receptacle to keep the area clean.
A paved multi-use pathway is also expected to lead from the Clarke Fields Park BMX lot and connect to the existing recreation path as well as the Gregory Casey Dog Park.
There is not yet an approximate start or completion date for the project, but work is expected to begin when warmer weather comes.
From Sept. 27 to Oct. 14, a public consultation was held to gain insight on local residents’ opinions regarding development of the new dog park.
There were around 1,300 visits to the consultation website, indicating a high level of interest in the project.
According to the City of Ottawa, 93 per cent of those who visited the website own a dog, 89 per cent support the idea of separate areas for small and large dogs, and 61 per cent gave comments on the project.
Some commenters raised concerns about whether the park would be too small since there are so many dog owners in the community. As well, there were requests for a water fountain and more shade by planting more trees with the available funds.
The city responded that there is no additional land available on the site for a larger dog park.
