More than 100 supporters of the existing dog park in Brook Run Park packed Dunwoody City Council’s meeting Nov. 12 to protest the city’s plans to move the dog park.
Dozens in the standing-room-only crowd wore red articles of clothing to show their opposition to the city’s plans to relocate the park to a different part of Brook Run. Many in the crowd carried signs supporting the park or criticizing the city.
Dunwoody resident Robert Moss carried a sign that said, “The dog park isn’t broken. Don’t spend money to change it.”
Moss said he lives about a half mile from the park and goes there regularly with his golden retriever, Mattie.
“I have so much enjoyment and pleasure in the park,” he said. “I take my book and I read my book and I can look out at the vista through the dog park and it’s beautiful. And my dog walks around.
“I don’t call it a ‘dog park.’ It’s a people park and people go and take their dogs.”
The park now is in a heavily wooded area of Brook Run. Dunwoody city officials plan to relocate it to a about 2 ½ acres that is both wooded and open, city Parks and Recreation Manager Brent Walker said. The new area will be located nearer the entrance to the park and close to the skate park.
The supporters of the existing park argued that the new plan will expose them and their dogs to the summer sun. They now are shaded by trees, they said. One told council members that the new park “won’t be used for a good portion of the year because of the sun.”
City officials say they want to move the dog park, in part, because trees in the existing park are being damaged by the dogs. The new park will have areas set aside for large and small dogs, Walker said, and the area being used by the large dogs will change periodically to protect the park. Walker said he planned to open shady areas of the park in the summer and open areas in the winter.
Walker said the city had budgeted $195,000 for the new park. The city now is seeking bids for the work, he said.