KDOGS - Kent Dog Owners Group and Supporters

Following is the latest information regarding our progress in getting OLA’s established in Kent and the surrounding area.

If you would like to give your input and easily help our efforts, please send a short note to your councilmember's (with a copy to me if possible) telling them of your desire for off-leash dog areas on Kent East Hill. To do so online, click here http://www.ci.kent.wa.us/CityCouncil/members/DeborahRanniger.htm (be sure to mark the box "all council members").

1. At this point in time the master plan for the re-development of Clark Lake Park includes an OLA in the Southwest Corner. The size of the area is not known but probably no more than a few acres. There will be no lake access. However, just because it is in the master plan at this time does not guarantee that it will happen. The plan we discussed tonight is just a consideration of what might take place at Clark Lake Park. The Kent Parks Dept. is not ruling out an OLA but they are also not guaranteeing it.

2. The Kent Parks Department is forming an OLA task force to try to locate a park on the East Hill of Kent that would be used exclusively for OLA activities. Your KDOGS leaders will be a part of this task force. We were told that if they locate a facility, the area at Clark Lake Park would be temporarily used until a new park was located and ready to be opened as an OLA, which could take a long time.

3. King County (who gave Kent Parks the grant money to redevelop Clark Lake Park) has deemed off-leash activities as an "organized activity" even though the area would not have a fence-it would be designated by signs and rules. We do not think off-leash activity should be considered an "organized activity" and hope to have a chance to dispute this categorization. In the meantime, a stipulation in the grant states that the grant money cannot be used on organized activities. Therefore, if Kent Parks were to designate a small area of Clark Lake park an OLA they would have to purchase an additional piece of land within the Clark Lake park boundaries that was same size as the OLA and use it as "passive activity", as stipulated in the grant. The chances of that happening are slim as the few properties that the park wishes to purchase for parkland are not being sold at this time, or in the near future.

4. It was suggested to the Parks Dept. that there be specific times of the day that Clark Lake park (and perhaps other Kent parks) can be used as an OLA instead of, or in addition to, having a designated OLA. This would give dog owners a larger area to exercise their dogs and perhaps have access to the lake at specific times of the day so that other users of the park would know what times there would be off leash dogs there and what times there wouldn't. If this were to happen, it would be crucial that people respected the OLA hours and not take their dogs there off-leash during the other hours.

So, all in all, the meeting didn't tell us that we would get an OLA at Clark Lake Park, or anywhere else on the Easthill for that matter, but it also isn't ruling it out. At this time an OLA is still on the master plans of Clark Lake Park, which is a positive thing.

The next public meeting will be held on July 30, 2004 (we think-will let you know for sure as soon as I know the date is confirmed). This meeting will be to go over the final draft of the master plan for Clark Lake Park. On October 5, 2004 the Parks Dept. will give the final plans for Clark Lake Park to the city council to be finalized. Therefore, it is very important that we have as many KDOGS members at the July 30, 2004 meeting as possible, so mark your calendars now! I will email details as the date gets closer, but you can figure that it will be just inside the park on the 248th St. entrance (across from Martin Sortun elementary school) from 6:30-8:30pm.

In the meantime, we are in the process of developing a petition that will have our mission statement on it. We will be having people at Clark Lake Park ask everyone to sign it, including people without dogs (OLA's benefit everyone by giving people with dogs a place to exercise them, thus freeing up other area of parks for people who don't want to encounter dogs). We will also have folks at Grandview Park sign it and everyone else we can find. We will have an online petition that I will try to arrange to email it to everyone on the KDOGS list to "sign". We need as many signatures as possible to be able to present to the city council so they know there is a large number of people in Kent who desire an OLA.

We urge EVERY KDOGS member (even if you were at the meeting) to email Perry Brooks PBrooks@ci.kent.wa.us AND the Kent City Council (even if you have done so in the past) at www.ci.kent.wa.us/CityCouncil/members/JuliePeterson.htm (note: A short note needs to be sent to each council member, or you can check the box that says 'all council members'.) to tell them of your desire for an OLA on the East Hill of Kent. It is very important that the Kent Parks Department and city council know there is a large group of people out here who expect an OLA and who are not going to "just go away unheard".

Contact Kent City Council & Kent Parks Dept...

Thank you all for your support and commitment to OLA's. Please remember to spread the word about KDOGS, to email Perry Brooks AND the City Council, and to mark your calendars for the next meeting on July 30th.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

On a side note, I am happy to report that the drinking fountains for people and dogs are being installed at Grandview park next weekend!

Elynn Clayton
KDOGS

Dogs will have their day at South King County off-leash park
By Elynn Clayton

On October 4, 2003 South King County will open it’s first ever off-leash dog park.

Eight South King County cities will be contributing to the $35,000.00 start up costs. The 37 acre Grandview Park, located off Military road in SeaTac will provide dog owners with a place to exercise, socialize, train, and play with their dogs without the confinement of leashes. Grandview Park, formerly owned by King County, has been closed for several years.

Each city (Auburn, Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, Kent, Renton, SeaTac and Tukwila) will contribute a one time fee based on their population and will donate time to park maintenance each year. King County will contribute the majority of the start up costs with an $18,275.00 contribution.

In the past few years South King County’s population has skyrocketed resulting in fewer places to exercise dogs. With this in mind, several years ago Wes House formed KDOGS (Kent Dog Owners Group and Supporters) to bring the need for off-leash parks to the minds of the Kent Parks Department. Shortly after KDOGS was formed, they were joined by SODA (Serve Our Dogs Areas) and the two groups have worked together to bring Grandview Park to dog owners. SODA and KDOGS have been instrumental in getting the park open and will all be contributing to the maintenance and upkeep of the park.

The park will be owed by the city of Seatac. It will be run by SODA, who also runs Marymoor off leash-park in Redmond. The park will be supported through membership fees, and donations of time and money from SODA and KDOGS. There will be no mandatory fee to use the park, and membership in SODA or KDOGS is not required, but would be welcomed.

Grandview off-leash dog park will be a huge benefit to the surrounding communities. With the number of dogs in South King County it is hoped that it will be the first step in bringing local off leash dog parks to different areas of each of the cities.

Come join us for the Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting ceremony at 10am on Oct. 4th at Grandview Park.

Finally, the SODA-South Task Force will be the primary organizer of the Grandview user group and the managers of that facility. Grandview has the potential to be one of the very finest off-leash facilities in the United States. If you have interest, you should contact SODA-South at soda_south@soda.org.

I hope this answers your many questions. If not, please feel free to send me an email. I firmly believe that by working together we shall have our dog parks!

A recent Letter to the Editor highlighted one reason, on the long list of sound reasons, why Kent citizens need Off-Leash Recreation Areas!

By creating Off-Leash Parks, people are no longer forced to play with their dogs off-leash in areas where this activity would be bothersome to other people. Off-leash Dog Recreation is a legitimate form of recreation enjoyed by thousands of South King County residents. We are one of the largest recreation groups in South King County, yet we have no place to legally walk and play with our dogs off-leash. If it is acceptable for park systems to provide specified recreational facilities for other recreational groups such as soccer, baseball, tennis, skate boarders, etc., then it is the responsibility of parks to likewise, provide places for people to enjoy Off-Leash Dog Recreation.

Area’s for Dog Recreation are normally established in a little used distant corners of existing parks or public lands, away from other users. Many without dogs enjoy watching the play and walk over for the fun. Segregated fenced dog area’s makes this a matter of choice for all park users.

The minimal costs for operating such dog areas are generally borne by the dog owning public, dog park users, and donations from those who enjoy the show. Strong social community forms around a dog park and willing volunteers do facility maintenance and make desirable improvements. There is little if any cost impact for the general public.

Dog-related organizations, such the Kent Dog Owners Group (KDOGS), promote knowledgeable and responsible dog ownership, including courteous interaction with others. Dog parks provide the perfect location for knowledge of dogs and dog behavior to be promoted and shared. Knowledgeable dog owners and well-trained dogs are an asset. They make good neighbors. I encourage anyone wishing to know more about dog parks, or to learn about the proposal for a South County Off-Leash Dog Recreation Area by eight South County cities, to visit the KDOGS web page at www.kdogs.com.

For those who have not visited Grandview, here is one person's perceptions. I spent about an hour, with Spirit, tromping around Grandview. My overall impression: With the soccer area's included I say "Thank You God!"

As you know, I'm not a dog park manager, I'm a dog park user. The following comments are thusly skewed.

1. Virtually no neighbors in sight or hearing. Four houses are grouped near the main entrance, but are out of sight from inside and at least 50 yards from the parking area, and further from the walking area's. There is a schooling complex (grades 3 - 12) with a parking area that abuts the perimeter fence and has gate access to the park. There should be no conflict -- the office workers felt all would be happy if the park was used frequently by anyone -- they are hearing about beginning transient problems. About 95% of the perimeter is shut off from surrounding neighborhoods by terrain.

2. Grandview just off the I-5 and SR516 interchange. It has easy access for a large part of the SKC population. For the Kent folks, it is 12.5 minutes, in moderate traffic, from East Hill's Clark Lake. Travel time during rush hours would vary ;~(.

The grounds and facilities are in better shape than I had expected, but folks have cut corner's on maintenance for several years.

1. The overall park area in tiered on two levels. Parking is the higher level , with an older asphalt drive that is now the main walkway that winds down to the lower areas. The grass is still being mowed and is good and thick.

2, The asphalt walkways are in good repair. The old road that is now a major walkway is in moderate condition - a few pot holes here and there.

3. The washroom building (locked) is wooden and judging from size has several stalls. The water fountain looked ok, but the water is shut off. We would probably renew the washroom building some year. I couldn't assess the status of the plumbing and fixtures, but they are probably old but working...

4. The parking area has 40 spaces and has two concrete light poles. There is space to gravel a nearby grass area if more parking becomes needed.

6. The is a medium sized covered area (maybe 25' x 40') that now has four BBQ stands. Without the stands, there is room for 8 to 12 picnic tables. The roof is an aluminum bat-winged affair with concrete support poles. It is sheltered by terrain from SW winds.

7. The perimeter fence does not extend all the way around and is poor condition in several areas, It needs to be replaced and extended. Around 80% of the perimeter is buffered by slopes (think intermediate to advanced ski slopes) either up or down. Dogs have no trouble with the slope (Spirit didn't) but owner's (at least old guy owners like me) could not follow their animals up or down. There are areas (acreage unknown) of gentle slopes that are now overgrown with Scotch Broom that could be cleared for added space.

8. There are a couple of concrete light poles and fixtures on the walkways and a couple of bench seats.

9. It wasn't raining but it looked as though the whole place has good drainage and I came across no dried mud holes.

10. The park terrain divides it into several grass areas, separated from each other but close to the rest room facilities.

11. The view (near the main soccer field) is extraordinary. One looks over the Kent valley to the Cascades. The Mount Rainier view should be awesome on a clear day. I guess that why they named it "Grandview".

The Soccer Fields! There are two. One covers almost twice the area of the other. The surface is sand with tire shavings. There are eight telephone poles with banks of lights. The corner poles have eight lights each and the inner poles have four each. The poles are old! It seemed that night-time dog people would only need two or three of this light banks for sufficient illumination.

I was told when talking with somebody that the cost estimate to replace the poles and re-bulb the lights was around $400,000. The soccer field surfaces are sand with tire shavings. People tracks and a few dog tracks there, but no sign of soccer cleats! The large field is crummy -- the smaller field is really crummy! My totally naive guess is that if the local soccer people found another place to play, nobody would want these fields very badly. I say this with no knowledge of the availability of decent fields. Costs to bring the soccer area up first class exceed $1.5M and at least one says $3.5M.

From a dog park users view, the sand might be a rather good wet weather surface with no mud!

Size! Yup, we need the soccer area -- the dog park is not proper without it. There are enough grassy area's to get by for a period if necessary. I tried to visualize the lines on the Grandview map displayed at the Open House and it seemed that the line separating the dog and soccer area's was drawn to favor the soccer folks. For example the rest rooms and play area were on the soccer side of a straight line across the park. That's a lot of space that the dog people could use if the a dividing line was drawn at the boundary of the soccer fields. It would be much better if there were no boundary's for us at all!

In summary, I liked the place better than I was ready to like it! I found no show stoppers today. It is a very good place!

While serving on the "Save Our Dog Area Task Force" in 1995, Jim and I had the opportunity to meet with a King County Council Member to get advise on how we could influence the decision making power of elected officials. The Council Member told us, "You need to become a 200,000lb Gorilla!" In puzzlement we asked, "Why a 200,000lb Gorilla?" He replied very matter of factly, "Because a 200,000lb Gorilla gets whatever he wants!" If we want this Dog Park in South King County, we need to become a "200,000lb Gorilla". The more people that attend this Open House, the BIGGER our Gorilla becomes!

We have movement regarding Off leash Area's (OLA's) in the Kent area. A lot has been accomplished and easy steps taken by a large number of us will move us to success.

Background: No city in this region will be the first to establish a dog park!. All fear that they will be overrun with other cities dogs, and they are probably right. But as we have demonstrated the need for OLA's, the Kent Parks and Recreation Director (a good guy I believe), took the initiative to get surrounding parks managers to support the idea of a regional park -- that way no one city takes the brunt of the huge dog population in South King County. Two regional parks are being considered for the South County. The first will be approximately 20 acres in Grandview Park. This is located east of Military Road at South 228th Street near I-5, with a second 40+ acre park east of Maple Valley. There is an article in this weeks Kent Reporter that gives additional details.

Kent now is considering two to four smaller off leash areas after a regional park is established. I personally believe that Clark Lake has a good chance for a park, but this is not guaranteed. The point here is that we must support the regional park initiative before we can obtain OLA's in Kent. A vocal group from the Clark Lake area will also effect decisions regarding OLA locations within Kent.

We must keep the Kent managers aware that there is a large OLA special interest group in Kent. We must maintain the picture in the minds of the City Council members that dog parks are an important issue for Kent citizens and voters. If we don't keep that picture in their minds, funding for regional and local OLA's will be perpetually put off into the future!

We need to increase the number of supporters on this mailing list. Please give my email address (wchouse@msn.com) to any at Clark Lake who are not on this list. LOL, I hope that you are better than me at remembering to take pen and paper to the Lake for this purpose. We also need to consider how to contact dog owners who do not frequent Clark Lake. Perhaps this can be accomplished via local Pet Stores, or even a notice in a local paper to encourage folks to contact us. You probably have many good idea's about how to do this, so lets talk. We need a large number who will send email to Kent City Council members in support the regional park and remind them that we expect a local Kent park as well.

The purpose of this message is to let you formally know that my wife and I fully support establishing regional Off Leash Area's and subsequent Off Leash facilities in Kent.

1) our current usage of Clark Lake will not last -- growing population means that we will loose (are loosing) the competition for Park space, and

2) that we need to actively support the regional park as a means of getting a local park. If you have any questions regarding these issues, please contact me