[BCNnet] FYI: Another dog park movement in Cook County

[Randi Doeker - Chicago]

FYI: Here's another effort to open a city dog park.  I bring this to your attention because it may
well spill over into the FP.  Small dog parks cost a lot of money due to the infrastructure needed
to prevent the density of dogs from destroying the ground cover. Dog areas in a FP only cost the
price of the fence.

Randi Doeker
Chicago - Cook Co.



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Residents unleash call for dog parks 
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Northbrook, Glencoe officials are lobbied

By Susan Berger
Special to the Tribune

September 23, 2005

Petitions are being circulated and park boards lobbied in an effort to add Northbrook and Glencoe
to the list of dog-park communities.

In Northbrook this week, Sandra Pesmen was joined by about 20 people at a Park District board
meeting. She brought photos of her 8-year-old black Labrador, Bolder, wearing a sign that read,
"Dog park please," and a neighbor's dog wearing a "Bark for the park" sign.

"Fenced back yards are not good enough," Pesmen said. "The community should provide this."

In Glencoe, Shirley Hurst-Susman, a 33-year resident, has collected more than 400 signatures for
her petition drive, which began last spring after officials started enforcing a new Cook County
ordinance and telling her morning dog group that the owners could no longer congregate with their
canines off leash on village and park property.

Canines can be off leash in public only in authorized dog parks, said Dan Parmer, administrator of
the county Department of Animal and Rabies Control.

Katie Sweeney, Glencoe community service officer, said the ordinance also requires all dog parks to
be fenced. The ordinance was the result of an outbreak of canine distemper largely attributed to
dog parks.

There is also a requirement that dog parks issue permits that make sure the dogs are vaccinated for
rabies, hepatitis, distemper, parvovirus and parainfluenza, Parmer said.

Hurst-Susman hopes to make a presentation on a dog park by December.

"We want to make sure that every possible problem is addressed so [the Glencoe Park Board] can't
turn it down," said Hurst-Susman, owner of Zoe, a 2-year-old Dalmatian. "We're a full-service
village. We should have a dog park."

Glencoe Park District Director Rod Aiken said the matter is fairly simple.

"It doesn't come down to dogs," Aiken said. "It's a space issue--the loss of green space and the
impact on neighbors."

Glencoe dog owners made a push for a park in 2000 and 2002. Park District consultants looked in
2002 at Shelton Park, on inner Green Bay Road near Harbor Street, as a possible location, but found
the space too small for a half-acre fenced-in park.

For years Glencoe residents were allowed to use the village's golf course and Park District beach
when the seasons ended for dogs to run off the leash. Dog owners also would regularly meet in Lake
Front Park, overlooking the beach.

The group has moved on to Highland Park, Sweeney said. Evanston, Deerfield, Lake Bluff, Lake
Forest, Skokie, Wilmette and Winnetka also have dog parks.

In Northbrook, Pesmen said a dog park should be included in a redeveloped Anetsberger Park that
will include soccer fields, golf and playground areas.

Phil Yoder, parks and property director for the Northbrook Park District, said construction work
has begun at Anetsberger and is due to be completed next summer.

"We have had requests [for a dog park] in the past, but we have not looked at this with as much eye
for detail as we will now," Yoder said.

Northbrook parks staffers will be researching costs and space requirements for dog parks and report
to the Park District board at its Oct. 11 meeting, Yoder said.

Though people have come forward to support the dog park, Yoder said a cost and space breakdown
could bring out some other voices.

"Many more may come out in opposition, it's hard to say," Yoder said.

Pesmen also presented a letter to the Park Board from Michael Malitz, a veterinarian with
Countryside Animal Clinic in Northbrook.

"I think dog parks are an excellent way to socialize a puppy and provide nice recreational activity
for owners," Malitz said.


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