[BCNnet] DuPage sets fees for off-leash dog exercise areas

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This story was sent to you by: Chris Oszak

Somehow I missed this announcement at Tuesday's DuPage FPD board meeting.

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DuPage sets fees for off-leash dog exercise areas 
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By Lynn Van Matre
Tribune staff reporter

June 3, 2004

Dog owners who want to use off-leash exercise areas at DuPage County forest preserves should plan on obtaining a permit and paying an annual fee starting July 1.

"We hope to have application information available by the end of the week," district Executive Director Brent Manning said Wednesday.

"We're still working on the logistics of how people can get the permits and doing some fine-tuning," added Manning, who set the fees with input from forest preserve commissioners. "But we're looking at July 1 as the target date to start implementing the policy."

DuPage residents will pay $35 per person for an annual use permit and non-residents will be charged $150 per person, with fees prorated for 2004.

Dog owners 65 and older and honorably discharged military veterans will receive free permits. Plans call for the permit policy to be enforced primarily through spot checks by district ranger police.

A proposal to charge an additional $5 per animal for those with more than one dog is being considered.

"We're still having meetings on that one," Manning said. "We do know there will be a three-dog limit per person in the exercise areas. We don't feel that most folks can adequately control more than that at one time."

Earlier this year, citing costs of staff and maintenance at the district's six dog parks, forest preserve staff recommended annual fees of $40 per dog for county residents and $250 per dog for non-residents.

The staff also recommended closing an off-leash area at Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville because of fights and neighbors' complaints about unruly dogs; and shutting down a little-used exercise area at Mallard Lake in Hanover Park.

The proposals prompted hundreds of calls, faxes, e-mails and letters from area residents to commissioners and staff in recent months, Manning said.

"Some people thought the proposed fees were too high, and some thought they were too low," he said. "Some folks wanted all the off-leash areas closed down, and some wanted us to open more. There's no way we'll satisfy everyone 100 percent."

Manning added that though all of the exercise areas will stay open, some "likely will have some modification with regard to additional fencing and protection of natural areas--just common-sense things."

The district also maintains dog parks at Mayslake Forest Preserve in Oak Brook, East Branch Forest Preserve in Glendale Heights, Springbrook Prairie in Naperville, and Pratt's Wayne Woods in Wayne.


Copyright (c) 2004, Chicago Tribune

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