In a surprising move Cochrane council unanimously voted to put the brakes on a new dog park in the town.

While a dog park will still happen, it's final location remains unknown at this time. Council has directed administration to take plans back to the drawing board and look at the pipeline corridor to the south of Quigley Drive as an alternative to the original pitch.

The dog park open house brought out roughly 60 community members who either strongly favoured or opposed the proposal. With feedback still coming in, Mayor and Council, didn't feel it was the best decision to pursue the north location.

Mayor Ivan Brooker says he met with residents on Sunday (March 13) and says while he didn't agree with all the comments in good consciousness, he couldn't support it either.

"I did agree with enough of them especially the concerns around the parking lot and internal traffic that would be generated. If the parking lot got full then you know full well people would be finding spots along the streets and just the general congestion. I just felt it was appropriate to maybe investigate the other spot."

The southside location did come up in previous conversations, but administration had concerns of placing the dog park in an area that is already in use, as well as parking restraints. Brooker says while he realizes some issues may be identified he's hopeful this plan is the lesser of two evils.

"Parking might not be as perfect, we may have some issues with the intermixing of cyclists and walkers as well as the off leash dogs. I don't think it will be a bad thing but we'll find out when staff comes back and we obviously review the pros and cons of that and hopefully it's a better fit than the one to the north."

With the new proposal backing on to businesses such as Dairy Queen, Tim Hortons and the Ramada Hotel, Brooker says those businesses will need to be consulted. While he's not expecting push back he has been surprised before, in fact he feels this proposal could be a bonus for business owners as tourists may even stop for lunch and let their dogs off leash.

The plan is for administration to bring the Dog Park Capital Project back to council for review of design and cost on June 26.

 

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