Poway council: No off-leash dogs at Silverset Park
The softball field at Silverset Park will not be used as an off-leash dog exercise area, the Poway City Council decided Tuesday night on a 4-1 vote.
Instead, neighborhood dog owners will be offered an fenced-in quarter-acre site near the park’s basketball courts.
Faced with the prospect of the city having to pay $29,000 for soil and noise studies during a proposed six-month trial use of the field for dogs, a majority of the council said that was simply too much money. City Councilman Dave Grosch, who initially proposed the shared-use idea, opposed the motion.
City staff members told the council the studies were necessary to collect data in the event the trial period was deemed successful and the joint use of the field was made permanent. That would require the city to comply with California Environmental Quality Act rules, which could require anything between a no-cost negative environmental declaration to a full environmental impact report costing as much at $75,000.
Mayor Steve Vaus had previously supported the six-month test program on the condition that it would not cost more than $10,000.
“I stand by my word,” he said Tuesday night. “This is a good time for a change of plan.”
The council chambers were filled with speakers on both sides of the issue of whether dogs and teams of young softball players could coexist on the same field. Among those overflowing into the lobby of the council chambers were dozens of girls in their softball uniforms.
Plans had called for the field to be gated and for dogs to be allowed off-lease for three hours each weekday morning. Dog owners vowed to patrol the field for dog waste. Teams from the Poway Girls Softball League practice on the field in the late afternoons.
More than 20 people spoke on the issue, with proponents stressing that allowing dogs to run off-leash has been a long, albeit illegal, activity at the park for over 15 years. Dogs and humans have coexisted well at parks across the city, they said.
Those opposing the use of the field by dogs stressed potential health and safety issues and questioned how the part-time use of the field by dog lovers would be policed.
Councilman Jim Cunningham raised the idea of a separate fenced area, one of the earlier alternatives that had been dismissed by the off-leash contingent. The city estimates that the fence could be constructed for about $10,000.
Robin Bettin, the city’s director of community services, said that if the off-leash advocates were interested in pursuing the separate exercise area, it could come back to the council in fairly short order. It would be designed much like the Poway Dog Park, she said.
It was unclear Tuesday night whether the off-leash group would proceed.
In other matters, the City Council:
• Discussed ways the city could encourage residents to reduce their water usage by the state-mandated 32 percent. The council instructed City Manager Dan Singer to begin working on an urgency ordinance, to be in effect only during the drought, which might financially penalize individual users who fail to reduce water usage when compared with the same months of 2013. The council said the city needs to be sensitive to those who have already significantly cut water usage and that the hiring of “water police” was not an option. Singer said he’d be prepared to return to the council in July with more details.
• Recognized Poway High School’s award-winning robotics team.
• Adjourned in memory of Russ Sheldon, a founder of both the Poway Rodeo and Poway Valley Riders Association. A public celebration of his life will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at the PVRA arena. A memorial polo tournament will follow on Monday.
