Dog owners may have to pay for off-leash parks

Some Calgary dog owners are yelping at a proposal to impose a new fee for walking pets in off-leash areas of the city.

Part of a plan to create 15 new off-leash dog sites by 2011, the proposal was made at a civic committee meeting Tuesday.

Funds generated by a user fee would help offset costs of garbage removal and maintenance at the city's 141 off-leash sites without having to dip into the general tax base, said Bill Bruce, director of Calgary's animal and bylaw services department.

Bruce said the most difficult aspect of the proposal is the question of how fees would be collected. There's also the question of what the user fee would be. An annual fee of $25 has been suggested.

Simply tacking such a fee on to the cost of an annual dog licence isn't an option.

"Not every dog owner uses off-leash," Bruce said, estimating there are more than 100,000 dog owners in Calgary. "We're guessing about 25 to 30 per cent. So, we really want to talk to that group. We're doing some outreach, some discussion, and we'll come up with a bunch of different models as to what it might look like."

Some homeowners living near the existing park facilities think the plan has merit.

"I think it makes sense. I think if it's modest, reasonable, I think everyone would agree," said Nan Douglas, who lives near River Park. "It depends on your philosophy as to whether you believe in a user-pay system. And if you do, then I think it makes sense that if you are going to use a facility, you would pay for it."

But some dog owners say if they must pay an extra fee for walking their pet in the local off-leash park — in addition to paying for a dog licence — they’ll avoid the park.

"I would just walk the dog around the streets," said dog owner Leticia Kistamas. "I would stop coming."

A report examining the pros and cons of the proposed fee will come back to the city in December 2010.