2nd Dog Park

Mistakenly put thread under Non sun city issues. It is a very relevant Sun City issue.

As I watched the latest video of the BOD meeting, I was aghast this project still seeks to be done.

The second dog park was approved by the BOD right after RCSC purchased Duffeeland. It is a motion, approved and had money allocated to it. How do I know this? I was the Director who presented the motion, and the board, of that time, approved it.

The need for a 2nd dog park does NOT need to go to the LRP, or to anyone else. Jim Wellman had drawings and renderings for what it would look like to include fencing to two separate areas for the small and large dogs, watering area, gates for entrances, and a covered area for people to sit while their dogs frolicked in the park.

It was delayed because the GM wanted to see how Duffeeland turned out before committing anymore time to the 2nd dog park. Well folks, the time has come and gone for the second park, and it is already an approved motion by the board. So, lets get with it!

 

If memory serves Carole, the "second" dog park was actually supposed to be the first dog park. Part of your campaign was to include an RCSC owned dog park as opposed to the one owned by a community member (now called Duffeeland). As we were in the process of developing the park adjacent to the softball field Bob Knight wanted out from under the property off of Del Webb Blvd and Thunderbird and offered it to the RCSC for under $150 K. We had an appraisal done and it was worth nearly double that.

We ended up buying it and the transition was painful. As a private park, nearby residents said little. Once the RCSC owned it, the gloves were off and at least two of the owners behind it were constantly complaining. The board went through endless efforts to placate everyone. It became the rallying cry for the GM to put the brakes on the park in Phase 1. The majority, comfortably in the GM's corner, quickly bought into her argument. The consensus was to hold off till we resolved Duffeeland problems.

The solution, like it often does in Sun City, came from the membership. Many of those using the park offered to start a dog club at Duffeeland. You didn't need to be a member to use the park, but the club assumed much of the responsibilities of overseeing it. To this day, it has worked well. Lots of committed dog owners and very few problems.

I watched the meeting online as well and was surprised to see it raised again. More shocking was the comment it could be done for around 30K. Not even close. The oddity is whenever the RCSC gets bids, they almost always seem unusually high. That said, Carole is right, the plans are there and it could be rolled into the yearly budget and not go to PIF. For that to happen, you need to get buy-in from the GM. Don't hold your breath.

 

A classic example of where "I move we table the motion" really means, "Let's sweep this under the rug until it rots and goes away."

 

Hey there CT. The motion was never tabled, rather approved by a vote of the directors. Had it been tabled, I wouldn't be so unnerved by its current status of undone with no explanation.

I am going to try and be at the next board meeting to restate everything that I have written above and see where it goes.

 

All one can do is try.

 

Let's not forget that in addition to the 2nd dog park being approved by the BOD at the Sun Bowl location, a 3rd dog park was recommended by the Long Range Planning Committee to be located at the southeast corner of Marinette Center. This was put forward to the BOD by the LRP Committee when the plans were being made for the new additions to Marinette. There is a large water retention area that would be ideal and only unusable when flooded which is easily controlled by the monitors. The LRP Committee felt that there should be a dog park in all 3 phases of Sun City so dog owners wouldn't have to travel so far with their canine friends.

 

And yet . . . . . . . .........................

 

I think we need a dog park on every corner in Sun City so that no one has to walk or drive more than one block to get to a dog park.

Come on folks live up to the slogan that Sun City is an active retirement community. How many miles is it from the southern border to the northern border of Sun City?

If it is too far to drive from the southern border to the northern border when a dog park is in a central location really shows how lazy we have become.

 

Right on CM. Being the fly in the ointment, pain in the patoot, the thing in the punch bowl, well you get the idea. Anyway, I tried to resurrect this in 2015 and again in 2017 in work sessions. The response by my fellow directors was only slightly better than my request to have a mosque built on the same site. Aside from some verbal diarrhea on the topic, nothing was ever really done and it died a management death. Apparently the only way there will be any movement on this is to repeatedly bring this up at meetings or better yet take up golf and become a friend of the current Board president. It has worked in the past when a member wanted some action on an issue.

 

Many in a retirement community start out active enough, but that's not how most end up.

 

The problem is (another term for "my opinion) is that if you start in with "the people need" or "the masses want" ..... well that socialism and we can't have that, can we?

 

No, we cannot have socialism in the U. S. as there is something wrong with taking care of our own. Now all you SC residents who hate socialism and believe it is harmful to our country, turn in your Social Security and Medicare cards now. You should not have to be forced into participating in these ruinous programs.

 

Don't hold your breath on seeing any more dog parks in Sun City; not even on their radar screen. Having a segregated park along with Duffeeland would be nice; some folks just aren't comfortable with big and small dogs being together.

 

Somewhere there was a figure given of how many canine friends there are in our area. 5,000? 10,000? Many of these owners would like to socialize while getting some exercise for their animals as proved by Duffyland. The single dog park for all of Sun City is just inadequate. (Disclaimer: I am not a dog owner.) Now when they float the idea for a feline park I'm there!

 

This is something I'd pay to see. Would it need a "big Cats, small cats" section?

 

aggie - have you ever visited or even driven by the dog park. At best, there are maybe 20 vehicles in the parking lot. I don't know the square footage of the park, but I'm sure it can accomodate small and large dogs. Then there is the question of who decides what a small dog is as opposed to a large dog and what about intermediate dogs? I honestly believe that Duffeyland is more than adequate to support the current dog community. If you can't drive 2 miles tops to the dog park maybe you should not be driving. How do you get to your doctors office if he isn't within 2 miles of your residence? Come on people, don't be sop lazy. 2 miles north to south or 2 miles south to north is not an undue burden. If it is really a hassle to drive tops 2 miles to the dog park, hire a dog walker to do it for you.

 

Dog parks are not about people being lazy. Go and watch while a pack of four or five dogs charge full speed around the park. They don't get that tethered to a septuagenarian on some cul-de-sac. Look at those some oldsters warming their bones in the sun, chatting about anything except religion or politics. ditto.

 

Hey there carp, this isn't only about location of the current dog park. It is too small too handle the dog population within Sun City. The dogs are co-mingled, and this can cause some of the residents to feel afraid or threatened to take their small dog in where there are other larger dogs running around. It does not make sense nor does the current footprint of duffieland support separating the space.

The second dog park, by original design was to support the large and small dogs in separate areas. It had water designed into the plan, which is a feature needed for a canine facility. The canine population in Sun City approaches 10,000 dogs, one park does not support that many canines.

This has been in the works for a good number of years and it should come to fruition, to help support the canine community as well as their owners.

 

You are right CM, but really comes down to lighting a fire under the Board. Regarding the procrastination, as we said in college you can’t tell them to shove it unless we all get behind and push.

 

Something like this?