Council endorsed the building of the permanent park at the 21 April Council meeting after a successful trial of a temporary park at the site. Council conducted a survey with users where 93 per cent of respondents considered the temporary trial park successful.
With works underway Council has decided to keep the site closed until construction is completed by the advertised date of 30 June pending weather conditions. While it was planned for the off leash dog park to be available on a limited basis during construction, there were OHS concerns over the health and safety risk for users in a construction site.
Greater Shepparton City Council Manager Citizens Services Laurienne Winbanks said “While at times the park does look OK to use we ask that dog owners respect the directions of council staff at the site and wait until notified that the park is open again.”
“The wet weather this week will delay the works but we hope to still complete the construction works before the end of June,” she said. “Some of the landscaping and other works will be done after main construction is completed. This may mean a few hours that the park is closed to allow machinery to operate. Again the safety of users and their dogs is paramount.”
The new permanent dog park is the same size as the previous temporary park with 320 metres of 1.8m high black powder coated pvc chain mesh fencing with a top rail. The new design has a concreted entry area with a dog waste bin, two drinking fountains for people and dogs, and seating.
“Funding allocated for car parking has been used for a disabled car park. The provision of 10 car parking spaces was assessed and found not to be required because of the amount of car parking currently available on street,” said Ms Winbanks. “The cost of the disabled car parking bay is $20,000 with the additional funding coming from the Disability Advisory Committee to ensure it meets all the appropriate guidelines.”
“Council is creating an accessible pathway from the disabled parking bay to the dog park which will allow wheel chair access. This path will enable access for everyone to get to the dog park from the street,” she said.
Plants and trees have been selected for the off leash dog park that are non toxic for animals, suitable for the environment and the amount of watering they will need. “We want to create an environment that mirrors nature so the dogs feel like they are free to run and play in the area.”
Ms Winbanks said that agility obstacles for the off leash dog park need to meet a number of criteria and off leash dog park standards of Australia. “Council needs to ensure that the obstacles can be used by all dogs, not just a select few dogs. Once the weather improves later in the year we will build a mound later at the northern end of the park. The mound will be something for the dogs to enjoy running around or on, but also assist with flood mitigation.”
The park is for daytime use only so Council has not included money in the budget for lighting. “Lighting the park and having people using it at night will cause a disturbance to local residents with noise from dogs, cars and people,” said Ms Winbanks.
The total budget for the park is $62,000 with more than half of the expenditure used on fencing and car parking.
“Council is working towards having more trial off leash dog parks within Greater Shepparton but want to ensure the first one is built correctly and meets all the standards and safety risks associated with the park,” said Ms Winbanks. “We want to see how this one is used and what we can add to our planning for more parks in the future.”
