The Orange County Register Dog park report to be released February 7, 2002 By CHARLES ADAMSON Orange City News Get the word out, dog park or no dog park. That's the strategy of both the proponents and opponents of a possible dog park at Yorba Park. A city-funded review of potential impacts on neighbors from a proposed 2-acre dog park at Yorba Park, an 8-acre site at Chapman Avenue and Yorba Street, is due to be made public this month. Then the city will accept written public comments for 30 days and will hold a public meeting with the Park, Planning and Development Commission. The issue is expected to go before City Council in April or May. That showdown can already be seen in the form of two banners, 8 feet across, hanging on a fence at the site. One from the residential neighbors that reads "Keep Yorba Park for the Neighborhood" and the other, from the Orange Dog Park Association, identifies it as the proposed site of the future dog park. Both sides are trying to rally support. "If the city doesn't feel like the people in this city want a dog park then there won't be a dog park," said Rick Cryder, Orange Dog Park Association vice president. All five council members belong to the association, said Cryder, but that doesn't guarantee anything. "You never know until the final votes are in. Even though they are members of our association they have to go by what they think is best for this community," he said. The council in 2000 unanimously approved the concept of a bark park at Yorba Park. The next step would be to approve a specific project, budget the money to do it and find a contractor to build it. Park neighbors say the dog park would aggravate traffic problems in an already congested area that includes Chapman Medical Center, a freeway off-ramp, the school district's Regional Occupational Program facility and a YMCA. The park, built on top of a landfill, was closed in 1998 because methane gas was coming out of the ground. The city has since built wells at the site to control the gas. There have also been problems of the soil settling, making repeated grading necessary. That makes it the perfect place for a park to serve the 13,600 licensed dog owners in Orange, Cryder said. "We're not just NIMBY (not in my back-yard), we don't believe it should be in anyone's backyard," Burley Avenue homeowner Charles Schroeder said. The neighbors say council members have already made up their mind and are trying to force a park that they don't want. "It's obvious from the get-go that they had a driving force and weren't going to listen to anyone or anything," Burley Avenue homeowner Jerry Rickmeyer said. Not so, said Mayor Mark Murphy. "I'm holding off final judgement until I see the implications of the design," Murphy said. "I do believe there should be a dog park somewhere in Orange." For Councilman Dan Slater, Yorba Park is as good as any site. "I'm very aware that the immediate neighborhood doesn't want it, but I feel there is such a need in the community that we need to put it somewhere and Yorba Park is my strong preference," he said. -30- Copyright (c)2002 The Orange County Register Copyright (c)2002 myorangecounty.com