Council OKs changes to dog park

More acres off-leash; bigger fines coming for scofflaws

By BILL KISLIUK
Register Editor

Off-leash dogs won and intransigent dog owners lost at Tuesday night’s Napa City Council meeting, in which the council approved eight more off-leash acres at the sprawling city park, but sought to up the fines for owners who violate the leash ordinance and other laws related to canines.

The council voted 5-0 to approve a recommendation that the 31-acre off-leash area be expanded and improved. Yet councilmembers had harsh words for owners who do not clean up after their pets and incorrigibles who insist on keeping their dogs off leash in all corners of the wildland park off of Dry Creek Road.

The council’s action brings to a close a months-long debate that saw 500 Napans fill out surveys about Alston Park use, an issue that seems to flare up every few years.

This year’s events began with a call from park users for more enforcement of leash laws, as many visitors were allowing their dogs off-leash in the hilly northern section of the park, where dogs are required by law to be on leash.

Then off-leash lovers organized and demanded more space, with some seeking full run of the park or an exchange in which the larger, northern portion of the park would become an off-leash zone instead of the smaller and flatter southern part. A backlash followed, with some visitors complaining that off-leash dogs already have taken control of the park, and that those dogs’ owners don’t care to follow leash or pick-up laws and have degraded the experience for others.

City of Napa police began patrolling the park this spring, issuing warnings and then citations for violations of leash laws.

When the issue reached the city of Napa Parks and Recreation Advisory Board last month, the agency heard testimony from two seemingly irreconcilable sides and proposed a compromise: The area near the popular south Napa parking lot would now include an off-leash portion, and the main off-leash area up the hill would expand. The wilder northern portion would remain an off-leash area.

City councilmembers asked for continued enforcement of regulations at the park.

The city also plans to add trails, maintain the off-leash area in a way that encourages more varied use, and perhaps add a pasture-style fence delineating off-leash and on-leash portions of the park.

Dave Perrazzo, parks department superintendent, added that the city may remove some brush and dead trees and plant shade trees in the so-called upper orchard area.

‘A sewer’

The city council adopted that plan Tuesday, but not before railing against park users who flout the leash laws or fail to pick up after their pets.

City of Napa Police Officer Brent Potter is the city’s man at Alston Park, and he summed up the last several months on the paths.

He acknowledged a serious problem comes from users he has encountered who have told him point blank they plan to continue to violate the leash laws, and said the police department may want to create a schedule of stepped-up fines for repeat offenders.

“It is definitely something we have to consider because of the comments we get (from people who say), ‘We will not comply,’” said Potter. “If that is going to be the mentality, we will have to deal with that.”

Several council members cottoned to the idea of increased fines for repeat offenders.

“It burns me that anyone would say to an officer that they can disregard the law,” said Councilman Mark van Gorder.

Potter acknowledged that most Alston users are law-abiding, but nonetheless characterized the creation of a dog area there years ago “essentially a failed experiment,” given all the time he spends patrolling the area and the continued discovery of violators.

Sarah Martin, a Napa parks commissioner who was the lone vote against the compromise at the commission level, testified Tuesday that more of the park should go to the dogs. She noted that the most interesting and hilly parts of the park are off-leash areas, and that the options in Napa Valley for vigorous off-leash exercise are “essentially nil.” She also asked the city to consider making the northern part of the park available to off-leash in the early morning hours.

The council did not adopt Martin’s suggestions.

Council members also inquired into whether users are picking up after their pups. Councilwoman Julianna Inman said parts of Alston Park are “turning into a sewer,” and that both Alston and Kennedy parks are seeing “the worst kind of scofflaw behavior.”

City councilmembers encouraged Potter to consider enforcement of dog litter laws, as well. Perrazzo noted that it could take a year or more for the city to complete new signage and work on the trails in the park.

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