BANFF – Dog owners in Banff will have a second place to take their off-leash pets.
On Monday (Nov. 25), council unanimously approved a one-acre off-leash park as part of the recreation grounds redevelopment to give residents on the south side of the Bow River easier access to a dog park.
Councillor Grant Canning said he believed the rec grounds were the preferred location.
“I remember it wasn’t that long ago when I was told, ‘don’t get your hopes up of having one dog park in our community.’ and here we are now considering a second one,” he said.
“We’ve come a long way and dog owners in this community are much better for it. This is absolutely tremendous.”
Presently, there is one off-leash dog park in the townsite, a 1.5-acre site located in the industrial compound on Hawk Avenue.
A dog park was always planned for the rec grounds, but the new location is further away from a riparian zone.
Administration will work on the environmental assessment process with Parks Canada for the dog park at the rec grounds this winter, with the hope of starting construction in 2020.
The 2019 capital budget sets aside $85,000 for the project. The dog park would include trees and rock features, benches and a walking path around the perimeter.
Amanda Arbuckle, recreation services manager for the Town of Banff, said the said there are about 500 licensed dogs in the townsite, noting there are also about 1,400 annual pet visitations at the Rimrock Resort Hotel and Fairmont Banff Springs alone.
“That’s quite a bit of visiting pets, and I would assume most of those are dogs,” she said.
“Providing these spaces encourages them to use those versus potentially having dogs off leash, which might be a norm in their community.”
