Editor:
In the matter of establishing an off-leash dog park in the Marmot Crescent public parklands, Banff council seems to be putting the cart before the horse.
Coun. Ted Christensen, quoted in the Feb. 29 edition of the Outlook, hit the nail on the head: “Considering the proximity of residents to the proposed dog park, and we don’t have that same proximity to the other dog parks, I think it’s our due diligence to do public consultation to see what the public brings up.”
Town council has decided to first request permission from Parks Canada, and if permission is granted the Town will hold a session “to mitigate any concerns over the proposal.”
But you can't mitigate a barking dog. Banff's Community Standards Bylaw – a Charter of Rights of residents – protects us from that nuisance. The section on noise does not give an exemption to owners of dogs:
"[N]o person shall make, continue or cause or allow to be made or continued any loud, unnecessary or unusual noise which either annoys, disturbs, injures, endangers or detracts from the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of other persons within the limits of the Town."
Few unnecessary noises detract more from comfort and peace than the noise of barking dogs. When we moved into our home, some neighbours were leaving their dogs in their yard while they were at work or overnight. The dogs barked at every squirrel, passerby, and gust of wind. I filed several complaints with the bylaw enforcement office – all were dealt with according to the terms of community standards and our neighbourhood is now pretty quiet. Those negligent neighbours were up to 100 metres from our place.
From the backyards of homes on Marmot Place next to the tracks, you can hear dogs barking at the kennel in the Industrial Compound, over 100 metres away and buffered by intervening forest.
Town planners say 25 metres is enough of a setback between off-leash and residential areas. Twenty-five metres is the distance between your house and the house across the street. I think an acoustic analysis would support the City of Edmonton's minimum setback: 100 metres.
If we grant the residents surrounding the Marmot Crescent parklands the comfort and peace guaranteed by community standards and respect a 100-metre setback, there will be no land left for the entertainment of dogs.
Some years ago, in levying a large fine against a Banff resident who had ignored three warnings about their barking dog, the judge said, “Towns are for people, not for dogs.”
I hope town council adopts the same attitude.
Jim Swanson,
Banff
