MARYSVILLE — Neighbors who have opposed a proposed off-leash dog park in the Sunnyside neighborhood have been working on a compromise with the city.
Marysville staff and park neighbors have met to discuss ways it can be built while minimizing any effects on residents, city parks director Jim Ballew said.
Some residents who live next to a long, slim parcel off 40th Street NE behind Sunnyside Elementary School have said they’d like to see the park limited to lighter uses such as trails.
The city and neighbors have discussed reducing the size of the off-leash area, moving the dog-park boundary farther from the homes that line the eastern border of the parcel, and moving the trail westward, Ballew said.
The city and residents plan another meeting before bringing the plans to the city’s parks board, scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Feb. 13 in the red barn at Jennings Memorial Park, 6915 Armar Road.
The cost of developing the site is pegged at about $30,000, Ballew said. The city has budgeted $18,000 for the park in 2008, and it’s hoped the rest can be privately raised. Ballew hopes to build the park this summer.
The $30,000 would be used for fencing, parking for 12 vehicles off 40th Street NE, an improved trail, drinking fountains for dogs and their owners, and a surface of dirt and wood chips.
It’s currently illegal for dogs to run off-leash in public places in Marysville and unincorporated Snohomish County. A group of residents two years ago formed a group called the Marysville Dog Owners Group, or M-DOG, to promote the idea of an off-leash dog park.
The Kiwanis Club received the Sunnyside parcel in a grant from Snohomish County in 1995 and then donated it to the city on the condition that it eventually become a park.
The city is also considering the Strawberry Fields playground at 6001 152nd St. NE as a possible location for an off-leash park, and Snohomish County is considering such a park at Mother Nature’s Window at 100th Street NE and 59th Drive NE in unincorporated Marysville, director Tom Tiegen has said.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
