Planned Dog Park Draws Protests

A plan to create a third dog park in the city of Los Angeles at a vacant lot inside the Sepulveda Basin has sparked protests from environmentalists and disappointed some dog owners who want the park built at another site in the basin.

At a public hearing to be held Monday, Recreation and Parks Department officials will explain why they believe the best place for the off-leash dog exercise area is on a weedy, three-acre lot on Victory Boulevard between a day-care center and a National Guard facility. The hearing is set for 7 p.m. at the Balboa Sports Center, 17015 Burbank Blvd., Van Nuys.

Officials say the location is ideal because it has adequate parking, access from Victory Boulevard and is attractive to an unnamed corporate sponsor--identified only as a major pet food company--that has agreed to contribute about $30,000 for construction of the facility.

In exchange, the sponsor would receive recognition, such as a sign, or perhaps the park would be named after the company, said Ann Kerman, director of the parks department’s corporate partnership program.

“We would make the park available for corporate-sponsored events, such as a dog Frisbee-catching contest,” Kerman said.

Building the dog park would entail erecting a fence, improving the existing parking lot, planting grass and trees and installing irrigation and drainage control, benches and water fountains. The parks department plans to handle construction itself, instead of hiring contract labor.

But environmentalists argue that the proposed area is too close to an area inhabited by migratory waterfowl, which forage along the banks of the Los Angeles River. The concrete-bottomed river is located about 50 yards behind the proposed dog park site.

“We’re trying to get the city to realize that the flood control basin is a home to wildlife,” said Jill Swift, a Sierra Club activist and former parks commissioner. “The area the city has proposed will impact the geese.”

Swift and others say the din of barking dogs and added pollution from cars parking in the area would disturb roosting waterfowl.

They have suggested building the site at another location located off Woodley Avenue near the Woodley Golf Course clubhouse.

Parks officials say that site is unsuitable because it is prone to flooding.