The Los Altos City Council Tuesday approved two fenced-in dog parks for north and south Los Altos, including a controversial location at McKenzie Park.
Council members at their Feb. 8 meeting agreed to a two-step process for a site near Hillview Soccer Field at the city’s civic center, while opting for a temporary setup at McKenzie, adjacent to the tennis courts on the park’s west side. The McKenzie option drew opposition from many of the park’s nearby residents, prompting Councilmember Neysa Fligor to push for pursuing only the civic center dog park and holding off on McKenzie.
The proposals, initially green-lighted at the Jan. 11 council meeting, followed feedback from residents after a trial off-leash hours program at Hillview Baseball Field last year. One of the chief complaints was a lack of fencing, spurring the council to go with fenced-in options.
“With Hillview Baseball Field, we listened to the residents and found a different location,” Fligor said. “And so for our south Los Altos residents, who are voicing their concerns about the McKenzie Park west location, I think we should listen to them as well.”
Mayor Anita Enander disagreed with holding off.
“If we try doing something at McKenzie and it doesn’t work, we can change it. I am willing to go forward,” said Enander, who, with council members Lynette Lee Eng and Jonathan Weinberg, voted for the McKenzie plan. Vice Mayor Sally Meadows and Fligor dissented.
Divided opinions
The McKenzie proposal sparked passionate reactions from neighbors mostly concerned about losing green space, but also about parking, noise and safety issues.
“McKenzie Park West is a beautiful green space with mature trees that is enjoyed daily by many residents. It is a space where one can go to relax and renew,” Derek and Anne Pitcher wrote, identifying themselves as 30-year dog owners. “Putting a fence around this space and adding a ground cover suitable for dogs will, no doubt, create an eyesore and destroy its serenity and peacefulness that is so hard to come by.”
Others questioned the vagueness of the accompanying dog park ordinance, contending that it failed to quantify, for example, limits on the numbers of dogs owners could bring to the park. Council members, who approved a first reading of the ordinance at last week’s meeting, said they would leave it to city staff to lay out the specific rules.
Some residents expressed support for the McKenzie site.
“This beautiful tree-shaded area is a perfect location for a much-needed community resource,” wrote Victoria Levy. “It has ample parking and would be in an under-utilized part of the park. It is in close proximity to rest rooms. It is also the perfect location because there are no homes adjacent to that portion of the park, so no impact on privacy.”
“I am very deeply concerned,” Enander said, “that if we do not put something in south Los Altos, we are going to overly burden Hillview in a way that we then end up making bad decisions on what to do with the more permanent decision at Hillview, because of the huge amount of usage. If it doesn’t work, we don’t go forward with doing a permanent type of solution.”
The initial plan with McKenzie would involve fencing and some tree protection in the fenced-in area, but no removal of the current green space. Manny Hernandez, the city’s municipal services director, said the city could consider a different kind of ground cover should the McKenzie dog park prove successful and warrant a permanent location.
The Hillview plan involves fencing in a space next to the soccer field before transitioning to a more permanent location north of the field, where a parking lot is currently located. The Hillview plan passed unanimously.
Also on the site is a temporary structure used by the nonprofit Friends of the Library of Los Altos. City Manager Gabriel Engeland said the city is working with the group to find space in the main library, which would allow the city to remove the temporary structure. Engeland anticipated any change would likely not happen until the fall.
In approving the dog parks, the council also allocated $100,000 – $50,000 for each park – to come from park in-lieu fees. Ongoing maintenance of the sites is estimated at $16,000 annually.
