Our Dog Park

It seems the newspaper is spending a lot of time on our dog park this past week!  We printed out the whole article but added a link too in case you want to click it.  In the first article, they wrote it without actually talking to mom or the mayor.  Everything was taken off Facebook pages (for the Dog Park & Mayor). The second one is actually the Editorial that was in Friday's newspaper.

Standard-Examiner correspondent

    

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NORTH OGDEN — The city’s new dog park is so popular that parking has become a problem.

The park, at 2600 North and 850 East, has eight designated spaces, and dog owners aren’t supposed to park along 2600 North or from the park to the corner of 850 East. But residents living on those streets say it’s happening anyway.

• RELATED: North Ogden dog park approved

Since the park opened in May, it has been more popular than city officials expected. Police have been patrolling the area and residents have been telling visitors where designated parking is available, to little avail.

“We somehow need to reorient the signs and red-stripe the curb (at 850 East),” City Councilman Phil Swanson said. “The neighborhood is tired of being the parking police.”

People have complained on both sides of the issue with long Facebook posts on both the mayor’s and dog park’s pages. The city council and mayor also have received complaints in person.

“The dog park has been a big success and we are happy for that, But the parking situation is what it is and is not going to change anytime soon,” Mayor Brent Taylor said.

Expanding the parking lot would cost about $40,000 and the city has no plans to do that.

“If there are not enough spots, people can walk to the dog park or park their cars at the Barker Park parking lot and walk to the dog park. Or come back at a later time,” Taylor said.

Barker Park is across 2600 North, about a block away, but the parking is further south, about two blocks.

Parking isn’t the only problem. Some patrons aren’t keeping their dogs on a leash before getting to the park and some allow dogs to defecate on lawns or by other cars.

The city recently informed Carol Campbell, one of the organizers who made the dog park possible, that the North Ogden Police Department would be stepping up patrols in the area, enforcing parking rules and the leash law. Campbell also is encouraging patrons to bring bags from home in case the cleanup stations at the park run out.

Campbell posted on the Facebook page and spoke at several city council meetings to report volunteers are still learning how to run the park to minimize conflict with the city and residents.

Resident Aubrey Obrey wrote on Facebook that she knows the parking is not ideal but she appreciates Taylor keeping his promise to monitor traffic near her home on 850 East.

One thing has been made clear by city officials — no parking will be allowed on 2600 North for the dog park, no matter what. Swanson suggested that the police be especially vigilant about ticketing those parking there.

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Standard-Examiner Editorial Board

    

When it comes to the com­plaints about park­ing ac­cess to the new, very pop­u­lar dog park in North Og­den, we agree with the sen­ti­ments ex­pressed by that city’s mayor, Brent Tay­lor.

“The dog park has been a big suc­cess and we are happy for that. But the park­ing sit­u­a­tion is what it is and is not go­ing to change any­time soon,” said the mayor.

There are cur­rently eight spaces set aside to park at the park at 2600 North and 850 East. Res­i­dents who live there have said that dog own­ers are park­ing along 2600 North and from the park to the cor­ner of 850 East. That’s sup­posed to be off lim­its.

It would sim­ply cost too much for North Og­den to ex­pand park­ing di­rectly at the park. But this should not be a prob­lem. Those walk­ing their dogs have ac­cess to park­ing. As Tay­lor adds:

“If there are not enough spots, peo­ple can walk to the dog park or park their cars at the Barker Park park­ing lot and walk to the dog park. Or come back at a later time,” says the mayor.

He’s right. There is park­ing two blocks away, fur­ther south. People who are al­ready walk­ing their dogs, and hav­ing the an­i­mals en­joy the dog park, should not have con­cerns about walk­ing the pets two blocks. In our opin­ion, the dogs would love the ex­tra walk­ing time and at­ten­tion.

Pet own­ers need to be aware that the North Og­den Po­lice Depart­ment is plan­ning to in­crease its pa­trols of the dog park area.

City park­ing rules and leash laws will be en­forced. The ex­tra two blocks to walk if the park­ing ac­cess is full needs to be­come the norm. The pub­lic has had time to be aware of what’s le­gal and what is not.

Dog parks im­prove the qual­ity of liv­ing for our com­mu­ni­ties. We’re very pleased that the North Og­den dog park is a big suc­cess. But the rights of the res­i­dents who live there, as well as the city’s park­ing laws, need to be re­spected as well.

Murphy & Stanley