A new dog park is being developed in Cochrane.

The new park will run on the north side of Quigley Drive, south of the 1A, and west of Highway 22 along the pipeline corridor.

Suzanne Gaida, Senior Manager Community Services with the Town of Cochrane, said the first step will be consulting residents directly impacted by the park.

"We are just at the draft phase right now. We do have to do some public consultation so we're starting that consultation with the residents who back onto and will be impacted by the dog park."

Initial plans for the park include a pathway, fenced off areas for small dogs, training and agility areas, a parking lot and staging areas where you could walk your dog on leash and then take the leash off and let your dog run and play.

Council has approved a budget of $300,000. Gaida said the cost of the project remains unknown, and phasing may occur depending on cost.

"When we originally presented it to council we had two phases where we have a smaller parking area, the full path way done, the area for the small dogs (training and agility), and then in phase two it would be the bigger dog area and such. Really we don't know the cost until we finalize the design."

Gaida said the project can't be put off much longer. It's been discussed since 2012 and community members have been requesting additional space.

"We heard from the community that we needed another dog park five years ago and it was in the plan to start the development for 2017, so we are right on track."

The new dog park will not affect the current off leash area, and while this dog park is considered a regional dog park, new development areas will still be required to include a neighbourhood off leash area in future plans.

 

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