BUDA — Buda City Council deliberated on possible relocation options for Buda’s dog park at its April 1 meeting.
Currently, the city dog park resides at the Buda Sportsplex and is split up into two sections, one for small dogs and one for large dogs, but the planned expansion of the sportsplex would leave no room for the dog park.
The potential options presented included four existing parks: Stagecoach Park, Green Meadows Park, Whispering Hollow Park and Summer Pointe Park. With the exception of Stagecoach Park, the relocation would require the separation of the two park segments in order to fit in the space available.
“Since the idea was to potentially split the park, is it possible to have one that resides in Whispering Hollow [Park] and one for Green Meadows [Park],” questioned council member LaVonia Horne-Williams.
Parks director Tony Host responded that it would be possible, with the only issue being how it was split up.
“Is it a small dog park at Green Meadows and a large dog park at Whispering Hollow or do you cut it in half and make one side a big and a small, just split it like it is now,” asked Host.
He continued with the concern that if it were split with one location being strictly for small dogs and one being for large dogs, someone that had both a large and small dog wouldn’t be able to take both dogs at the same time to the same place. Green Meadows Park has the option to fit both parks, but only barely, said Host.
“The parks commission did discuss this in February and their recommendation was to look at the Whispering Hollow/Summer Pointe area,” said city manager Micah Grau. “I will say that we would expect a strong response, maybe some positive and some negative, from neighborhoods about locating a dog park in a neighborhood park. So, the Stagecoach park is a neutral park where it doesn't abut any neighborhood parks. We only have a couple of parks that do that, [with] Garrison [Park] being the newest one that would be coming online [and] City Park, which really doesn’t have the space for it. So, that really just leaves Stagecoach [Park] as a true regional park that doesn't have an adjacent neighborhood.”
Grau emphasized that no action was expected at that meeting, the presentation was purely to gather information and present it to council before speaking with potential neighborhood locations.
He also mentioned that doing multiple smaller dog parks was another option, going off of a comment Horne-Williams made.
“[The Parks Department] really likes [the option of Stagecoach Park] because it doesn’t bother the neighborhoods. We’re not hurting parking for the neighborhood or interrupting whatever they’re choosing to do,” said Host. “So, even though we’ll have to cut the canopy of the trees up, remove some bushes —and those are mesquite — and then, just put the fence in, it doesn’t create that many challenges for us.”
“Looking at the photos, looking at just where they're going to be situated, whether you’re looking at Green Meadows or Whispering Hollow or Summer Pointe or just anywhere really, everywhere except Stagecoach, it really feels like we’re trying to cram it in and by cramming it in, we’re taking — like when you look at Green Meadows — we’re taking a really nice, wide open space out there where folks can enjoy it anyway they want really, whereas at Stagecoach, there’s just plenty of room,” said council member Matt Smith.
“So, this is a workshop, we are bouncing ideas around. I’ll go on the record myself and say that Stagecoach [Park] seems to make the most sense,” concluded Mayor Lee Urbanovsky.
Buda City Council will meet next April 15.
