Natural Perspectives -- Vic Leipzig and Lou Murray

Vic Leipzig and Lou Murray

In general, the Bark Park in Huntington Beach Central Park is a great

idea. It provides dogs with a good place to exercise and be with other

dogs. After spending all day cooped up in a house or small yard, a short

run in the park is a welcome activity for dogs. It’s a great idea for

people too, since the owners socialize along with the dogs.

The bark park was constructed on previously undeveloped city land off

Edwards Street in Central Park. The area was fenced and landscaped with

private donations by local dog owners so their dogs could have a safe

place to run, play and socialize off leash.

It’s a pleasure to watch the dogs frolic and play in the park, running

free in the fenced enclosure, fetching balls, sniffing each other and

just being dogs. We often stop to watch them play when we walk through

the park. It’s free entertainment for us. But we don’t have to live

there.

Residents who live nearby tell a different tale. They complain about

the noise and we can’t say we blame them. They’ve hounded the city for

months to move the park. While most of the dogs are quiet, a few

excitable dogs start barking the minute they jump out of the car in the

parking lot. Out of the 20 or 30 dogs that play there at any given time,

it seems that one is always barking. This has driven nearby residents to

distraction. They’ve even filed lawsuits against the city over the noise.

City staff is now proposing that the bark park be moved to another

location in Huntington Beach Central Park. This is a good concept.

Unfortunately, the specific location staff is suggesting is in an

established, well-landscaped part of the park.

The proposed new location is a beautifully landscaped section of park

just south of the Gothard parking lot. Tongues are wagging in our

neighborhood over this planned move. Our neighbors think that the

proposed location is about as appropriate as a muddy mastiff at an

all-white wedding reception.

All of the parkland bounded by Gothard, Goldenwest, Slater and Talbert

is well established with grassy areas and mature tree and shrubbery

plantings. It is enjoyed by large numbers of people every day of the

year, mostly for passive pursuits. It’s a popular place for moms who

quietly push strollers and walk with toddlers. Most weekends find

families enjoying picnics there.

The proposed site also functions as valuable wildlife habitat and is

used by bird-watchers hunting for rarities. The region south of the

Gothard parking lot is where unusual birds such as varied thrushes are

sighted. The trees there are full of migratory songbirds such as warblers

and vireos. Coopers hawks have nested in the trees around the Gothard

parking lot. During the winter in some years, the eucalyptus trees around

the parking lot host more Monarch butterflies than the Norma Gibbs

butterfly park on Graham. Think what hundreds of bouncing, barking

off-leash dogs would do to the peace and quiet of this area. And what

about the established plantings? Dogs would quickly turn the nicely

landscaped turf south of the Gothard parking lot into bare dirt. Speaking

of quiet, think about dozens of dogs being loaded and unloaded from cars

a mere half-block from the residential tract in which we and 80 other

families live. This is where excitable dogs do most of their barking, not

in the off-leash park per se, but in the parking lot.

There is no need to put the bark park in the established area south of

the Gothard parking lot when there are so many undeveloped acres

remaining in the park, acres that are far removed from residential

tracts. A more appropriate place would be south of Talbert Avenue along

Gothard Street. The new sports complex is under construction just to the

west of there. Now would be a perfect time to relocate the bark park to

that area.

We agree that the dog park should be moved. But city staff needs to

rethink their decision to move it to an established part of the park.

There will never be a good time to limit the public’s use of already

developed areas of our city’s greatest park.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at o7 [email protected] .