Natural Perspectives -- Vic Leipzig and Lou Murray
Vic Leipzig and Lou Murray
In general, the Bark Park in Huntington Beach Central Park is a great
idea. It provides dogs with a good place to exercise and be with other
dogs. After spending all day cooped up in a house or small yard, a short
run in the park is a welcome activity for dogs. It’s a great idea for
people too, since the owners socialize along with the dogs.
The bark park was constructed on previously undeveloped city land off
Edwards Street in Central Park. The area was fenced and landscaped with
private donations by local dog owners so their dogs could have a safe
place to run, play and socialize off leash.
It’s a pleasure to watch the dogs frolic and play in the park, running
free in the fenced enclosure, fetching balls, sniffing each other and
just being dogs. We often stop to watch them play when we walk through
the park. It’s free entertainment for us. But we don’t have to live
there.
Residents who live nearby tell a different tale. They complain about
the noise and we can’t say we blame them. They’ve hounded the city for
months to move the park. While most of the dogs are quiet, a few
excitable dogs start barking the minute they jump out of the car in the
parking lot. Out of the 20 or 30 dogs that play there at any given time,
it seems that one is always barking. This has driven nearby residents to
distraction. They’ve even filed lawsuits against the city over the noise.
City staff is now proposing that the bark park be moved to another
location in Huntington Beach Central Park. This is a good concept.
Unfortunately, the specific location staff is suggesting is in an
established, well-landscaped part of the park.
The proposed new location is a beautifully landscaped section of park
just south of the Gothard parking lot. Tongues are wagging in our
neighborhood over this planned move. Our neighbors think that the
proposed location is about as appropriate as a muddy mastiff at an
all-white wedding reception.
All of the parkland bounded by Gothard, Goldenwest, Slater and Talbert
is well established with grassy areas and mature tree and shrubbery
plantings. It is enjoyed by large numbers of people every day of the
year, mostly for passive pursuits. It’s a popular place for moms who
quietly push strollers and walk with toddlers. Most weekends find
families enjoying picnics there.
The proposed site also functions as valuable wildlife habitat and is
used by bird-watchers hunting for rarities. The region south of the
Gothard parking lot is where unusual birds such as varied thrushes are
sighted. The trees there are full of migratory songbirds such as warblers
and vireos. Coopers hawks have nested in the trees around the Gothard
parking lot. During the winter in some years, the eucalyptus trees around
the parking lot host more Monarch butterflies than the Norma Gibbs
butterfly park on Graham. Think what hundreds of bouncing, barking
off-leash dogs would do to the peace and quiet of this area. And what
about the established plantings? Dogs would quickly turn the nicely
landscaped turf south of the Gothard parking lot into bare dirt. Speaking
of quiet, think about dozens of dogs being loaded and unloaded from cars
a mere half-block from the residential tract in which we and 80 other
families live. This is where excitable dogs do most of their barking, not
in the off-leash park per se, but in the parking lot.
There is no need to put the bark park in the established area south of
the Gothard parking lot when there are so many undeveloped acres
remaining in the park, acres that are far removed from residential
tracts. A more appropriate place would be south of Talbert Avenue along
Gothard Street. The new sports complex is under construction just to the
west of there. Now would be a perfect time to relocate the bark park to
that area.
We agree that the dog park should be moved. But city staff needs to
rethink their decision to move it to an established part of the park.
There will never be a good time to limit the public’s use of already
developed areas of our city’s greatest park.
* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and
environmentalists. They can be reached at o7 vicleipzig@aol.comf7 .
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