The Golden 12th Street dog park has been decommissioned, after Council made the decision to discontinue the service at a Town Council meeting on June 21.
Reasons given was the lack of volunteer interest to help maintain the park and staffing considerations involved with maintaining the dog park.
In 2018, the Golden Off Leash Dog Park Society (GOLDPS) had partnered with the Town of Golden to maintain the dog park. However, this past spring, GOLDPS dissolved.
Town says that the dissolution of the society will impact the service of the park, which has slowly fallen under Town Public Works.
The establishment of the dog park was contingent on the partnership and the lack of non-profit society partnership contributed to the discontinuation.
A briefing note from Town stats that while Council was fully supportive of this facility being established, it was under the caveat that the recognized highest and best use of the land remains residential development, for which the park would be displaced upon any activity in this regard.
GOLPDS was encouraged to find a different location for the dog park, with no progress being made.
In 2020, the Town renewed the agreement to maintain the dog park for three years.
The briefing note also stated that while there is evidence that the dog park was being used, lack of user support made the maintenance of the park difficult, such as a lack of collecting dog waste, which Town states created an untenable environment for both dogs and owners.
There have been warnings of shut-downs in the past, according to the Town.
Three options were presented to Council: to maintain the current regime of the dog park, to modify maintenance of the dog park by either reducing or enhancing service, or to discontinue the dog park.
The latter was chosen.
In early 2023, Town staff will be reviewing and updating the Animal Control Bylaw.
This work will include reviewing the current on-leash and off-leash dog areas in the community and provide an opportunity for members of the public to provide input and feedback.
Over the last year, the Town has been engaged with a consultant to complete an environmental analysis on the Old Town Works Yard to determine next steps to move development forward on this land in the future.
The Town is looking at the land for the potential development of affordable housing.
