The mayor of Saanich promises all options will be on the table tonight when council deliberates its “People, Pets and Parks” strategy.
Dean Murdock said nothing is set in stone and council could do anything with the strategy from enacting it as-is, tweaking it or scrapping it altogether.
Council agreed to recess the public hearing until today, at which point no more public input will be allowed, and council will get to ask questions of its staff and deliberate on what to do with the draft plan. He said with more people with dogs using the parks there is an increase in the potential for conflict between people and dogs or dogs and dogs and environmental damage. “The strategy is an effort to try and bring some regulation to that space to prevent the potential for further incidents,” he said.
The vast majority focused on a suggested update to the Animal Bylaw that would require all pets to be on-leash in Saanich parks unless they are within a designated leash-optional area.The draft has identified 57 of Saanich’s 172 parks that could have off-leash areas, of which 12 would have fenced off-leash areas. The strategy recommends a 1.5-kilometre trail loop within PKOLS and a four-hectare fenced area with trails in Cuthbert Holmes Park.
“Accessibility is important to me as a senior,” said Deb Bastedo. “I hike two hours per day with my dog and I often use two walking sticks. I cannot practically or safely do that with my dog on leash, nor would she get the exercise she needs.” Luke Galimberti said: “There was never any effort to actually enforce existing regulations and that wasn’t even considered as an option in the strategy. It’s difficult to accept that there’s a pressing need for new sweeping regulations and a massive spending program when you haven’t even used the tools at your disposal.”
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