The Orange County Register

Council to consider Yorba Park plans Tuesday

Proposed dog park is one of 'multiple alternatives' that council members
will discuss. 

Aug. 21, 2003 (written Aug. 7, 2003)

By JIT FONG CHIN 
Orange City News

The Orange City Council on Tuesday will consider the future of Yorba Park,
including a possible dog park on the site, nearly five years after the
8-acre park closed.

The council will consider "multiple alternatives" for the park, said
Community Services Director Gary Wann. He declined to elaborate because
the City Clerk's office is not releasing the meeting agenda until this
afternoon.

In December, the Parks Planning and Development Commission recommended
the council should reject a master plan proposed by city staff. The plan
included a dog park, a tot lot and two softball fields.

"The main thing is make a decision. (Say) yes or no on a dog park to be
added to the park. -- It's that simple," said Rick Cryder, co-founder
of Orange Dog Park Association. 

The group raised more than $25,000 for an off-leash bark park after the
council agreed in August 2000 to explore building a dog park at Yorba Park.

Many neighbors -- already fed up with traffic and noise caused by vehicles
exiting from Costa Mesa (55) freeway, and nearby public school and YMCA 
facilities -- don't want a dog park.

In late 1998, city officials closed Yorba Park, a former landfill, to
install a gas control system to prevent methane from migrating past the
park's edges.

County Supervisor Bill Campbell's office explored the possibility of
building a dog park on two acres of county parkland on Santiago Canyon Road,
but ditched the plan when the aides realized a parking lot would take up
more than an acre, said Executive Aide Bob Tunstall.

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