By Samantha Smith
After a presentation on a future dog park, the Buda Parks and Recreations Commission took comments and concerns from residents March 23 on the parks design.
But the commission will have a lot to consider before the proposal is brought to city council in April.
A presentation was made explaining the current design plans for the dog park including exercise equipment for both the large and small dog sides of the dog park. Other amenities include waste stations, seating for owners, trees, shade pavilions and access to water for both visiting dogs and their owners.
Four Buda citizens, Dave Anderson, Carl Urban, Robin Katz, and Lisa Butterfield, spoke at the meeting.
Anderson explained that he and his wife frequently visit dog parks and have experienced that seating is inadequate. He suggested adding more benches to the design plan, as well as groundcover consisting of Astro-turf or outdoor carpeting instead of natural grass to lower maintenance costs for the city.
Urban said he had no real objection to the current dog park design, but asked whether Buda will include a permit rule for dogs to have all vaccinations before entering the park. Urban also asked whether or not there was going to be a designated person posted at the entrance to the dog parks helping to sort out the big dogs from the small dogs.
Katz addressed the commission not only as a concerned citizen, but as an attorney who has specialized in Animal Law, and brought suggestions based on her own research.
Based on her research, Katz mentioned that the weight limit for the small dog side of the park should be 30 pounds or under.
She also mentioned that the park should have two waste stations per side of the park to ensure that owners pick up after their dogs.
Katz differed on the need for more benches in the park to accommodate dog owners. She said people visiting the dog park with their dogs should be near them at all times watching them to ensure their safety as well as the other dogs at the park.
She also mentioned that the city’s leash law may need to be amended to designate the off-leash dog park as a sanctioned leash free zone, and that the park had to be leash free.
