Dog Park or Musical Chairs?

During the Nov. 16 council meeting, Councilwoman Trish Kelley rescinded her vote for a dog park after she voted for it on Oct. 5. She initially had voted with Lance MacLean and Frank Ury to approve a dog park in Oso Viejo Park (Ledesma and Schlicht opposed). Homeowners near the park quickly mobilized to push it back out of their neighborhood. Faced with a lawsuit filed against the city by one of the homeowners, Kelley claimed she had “heard the residents” and changed her mind. More likely, she heard the city attorney estimating his fees for defending the council majority’s bad decision.

MacLean was sullen throughout the Nov. 16 meeting. He looked down as Kelley accepted accolades from homeowners for reversing her vote after trampling their rights on Oct. 5. Kelley threw MacLean a bone during the Nov. 16 discussion, asking the city staff to proceed quickly to find another dog park location. The election to recall MacLean is Feb. 2, and he’s running out of time to court any dog park advocates who still don’t understand how he tried to use them. Throughout his six years on the council, he showed no sign of supporting a dog park. To end all doubt, he told a dog park enthusiast, “You will never get a dog park in Mission Viejo.”

During the Nov. 16 meeting, former councilwoman Sharon Cody suggested a dog park could be built on undeveloped land south of Gilleran Park. The site is on the east side of Felipe Road near Fieldcrest. In addition to other constraints, along with the objections of nearby homeowners and sports field users, building a dog park on the parcel’s rugged terrain would probably be cost-prohibitive. Cody’s goal has not been to find a workable site but to divert dog-park proposals from the vicinity of the animal shelter.

Longtime dog park supporters commented to this blog about the Felipe site:

Bo Klein said, “The only positive aspect would be its central location in terms of the city’s north and south borders. The cost would probably make it unreasonable and, for that reason, I think it’s just another smokescreen. For at least six years, I’ve asked why a dog park can’t be located at Lower Curtis Park. I’ve believed all along the city staff wants to reserve Lower Curtis for a corporate yard or other use, and that’s why they won’t discuss a dog park there.”

An animal shelter volunteer said, “I looked at the Felipe site and walked it. The cost of grading and other work needed to develop it would be astronomical. An access road would be needed off Felipe, along with a parking lot. It isn’t a realistic suggestion.”

Two blog contributors also walked the area, and one of them emailed, “Trish Kelley might succeed at fooling a few people about the prospect of a dog park on Felipe. If she can float this idea for a couple months, she might get as many as 10 votes for MacLean to save his seat. This game of musical chairs over a dog park has gone on for years. The people currently at the forefront are just new players who don’t know MacLean.”