Dog park location flagged for further discussion as Smiths Falls sets long-term vision

LAURIE WEIR

Smiths Falls council has approved the next phase of work at Lower Reach Park, greenlighting the new primary parking lot and entrance while adopting the full park redesign in principle during its April 28 committee of the whole meeting.

Director of Community Services Stephanie Clark presented the finalized redesign concept, which outlines a long-term phased vision for the 53-acre waterfront park.

“As a reminder, I stand here quite humbly of course, asking that council receive the report on Lower Reach Park redesign as presented, and that council approve the placement of the primary parking lot and entrance … and that council adopt the Lower Reach Park redesign in principle, recognizing that future phases and action will be subject to budget deliberations and future council approval,” Clark said. “So, we’ll be back talking about this in an ongoing manner.”

Councillors were largely supportive of the approach, but concerns over the dog park’s location dominated the debate.

Coun. Peter McKenna said, “I’m supporting the recommendation as is to go forward tonight. … What we’ve done is built it in pieces. And those pieces didn’t always fit. And we see now there’s tensions here and there around. And I think this will answer that over a period of time.”

However, Coun. Chris McGuire opposed adopting the plan in full without more discussion.

“One big thing that’s missing from this for me is the boat launch for the Voyager canoes,” he said, also noting concerns with the proposed dog park location.

“The whole reason we haven’t put up a netting barrier right now to protect the cars at the dog park is because it was a six-figure cost. Now, the best design is one that has the lowest maintenance over the life of the project. And this design incorporates the same netting barrier that’s going to have that same six-figure cost that’s going to need to be maintained year after year.”

Mayor Shawn Pankow said there is reluctance having the dog park along the ball diamond or directly adjacent to it. “It just seems ripe for ongoing conflict,” he said.

Pankow also noted that users of the dog park are interested in bringing concerns forward. “We’ve heard from people who use a dog park who’d like to come as a delegation to express their concerns at a future committee of the whole meeting.”

Clark said she had received “three or four” documented concerns, and encouraged anyone with additional or specific input to come forward.

“Vague statements don’t allow us to whittle down or narrow down the concerns. So, the more pointed and specific we can get, the happier we are, and we appreciate that from council as well,” she said.

Coun. Jay Brennan noted he was there when the dog park started. “The town was gifted the land. And staff at the time recommended that area. … To be honest, I didn’t envision the balls flying into the dog park at that time. And apparently, they do.”

He added: “It just seems to me … for the cost of it … just add one piece of infrastructure, and then it should be the problem solved.”

Consultant Doug Fountain acknowledged that retrofitting the netting would be costly now but less so if included in future ball diamond upgrades.

“To do that work as a retrofit, it is typically more costly. So, when that work is scheduled to be done, that would be the time when you could incorporate a new dog park in the location that we’ve shown,” he said.

Fountain added that if council decided to move the dog park sooner, there are some interim solutions: “You could do around the perimeter to start to create shade conditions, privacy from the road, a little bit of noise buffering with berming and tree planting.”

Council reached consensus to approve the parking lot and entrance portion now while continuing discussions on the rest of the redesign.

“The draft proposal for the park is, in my opinion, it’s a living document,” said Coun. Jennifer Miller. “I would be in favour of receiving the report tonight, in principle, and going ahead with the parking lot.”

Coun. Steve Robinson, who chaired the meeting, concluded: “It looks like we’ve got your direction, because the majority of us are in favour of receiving it, in principle, and going ahead with it.”