How Not to Build a Dog Park

A dog park in Mission Viejo has been discussed for more than 10 years. While a considerable amount of taxpayer money has been spent studying the subject, there’s no dog park on the horizon. The primary reason has always been that the city staff doesn’t want a dog park, and the staff (not the council) runs the city.

In the late 1990s, community activist Bo Klein began pushing for a dog park. He scouted potential sites, generated interest among dog owners and applied pressure on city hall. As an aside, he accidentally discovered the city’s stealth grading project in Lower Curtis Park while looking for potential dog park sites in 2003.

In 2003-2004, a highly compensated city staffer went on a photo shoot, documenting all the possible dog park sites in town. Richard Howard, a deputy city manager, had been in charge of overseeing the construction of city hall. After the project was finished, he apparently had nothing to do. He presented his photographs during a council meeting, demonstrating that the objective was to look for a site but not find one. The staff decreed there was no suitable place for a dog park in the entire city.

Two years ago, a small group of residents and their children circulated an informal petition and gathered more than 1,000 signatures in support of a dog park. Anyone could sign the petition – adults, children, city residents and non-residents. The group presented the signatures to the city council and aggressively sought action.

In 2009, the dog park supporters got the attention of a lone council member. Lance MacLean had previously shown disdain for a dog park, telling Klein in 2005 that Mission Viejo would NEVER have a dog park. However, dog park enthusiasts in 2009 could provide MacLean with 20 easy votes to keep his seat in the recall election. The spoof to get 20 votes for MacLean cost taxpayers thousands of dollars in staff time and legal fees.

City staffers, being pro-MacLean, accommodated the new non-project by picking a site near the community center, the worst possible choice. In doing so, they defied all the council’s guidelines, placing it in a city park near a school and homes. Neighbors immediately rejected the idea and added leverage with a lawsuit. The city staff next targeted a site on Olympiad Road, farther from homes but still unpopular with neighbors.

The city won’t build a dog park for those who want one, but the city staff has cordially invited the handful of dog park enthusiasts to raise money to build a dog park for the city. To promote fundraising, city employees printed some fancy postcards, available at the library. Eventually, the dog park crowd will catch on, but apparently not yet.