One for the Dogs- Resident seeks Off-Leash Park.by Erin Miller, West Hawaii Today, Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Tania Orol's initial vision of a West Hawaii dog park isn't terribly complicated. She'd like to see three or four acres, fenced in, with a few shade trees and benches. The park would need running water, and possibly lights, though she hopes those would run on solar energy, to cut down on utility costs. But the first hurdle could be more difficult -- she'd like Hawaii County to donate the land, help with maintenance and staffing. "I love dogs," Orol said. "I always want to do what's best for them."
In her mind, that means an off-leash dog park. Orol used to take her dog to an area the county opened up two or three years ago, behind the soccer fields at the Old Kona Airport Park. The county shut the dog area down a few months ago, citing incidents of dogs jumping on children and adults, and of owners not picking up after their dogs.
Earlier this month, at a forum for County Council candidates, Orol asked the prospective lawmakers if they would support a county dog park. All said they would. That affirmative answer prompted her to circulate petitions throughout West Hawaii, garnering community support for a park. Already the number of signatures on the petitions Orol has, has topped 700; she said with the petitions other people are circulating, she expects the total signatures to have reached nearly 1,000 in less than a month. Also signing on to the idea is an architect, Orol said, who is willing to donate design services and a company that will donate soil for the park.
Nora Rhodes, a West Hawaii resident who met Orol at her workplace, has circulated the petition, sometimes pulling her vehicle to the side of the road if she sees a person walking with a dog. Some people sign right away, she said, but others say they don't think the county will support the effort. That negative attitude concerns her, she said.
Creating a dog park does have challenges, Rhodes said. "There are definitely a lot of rules and provisions that need to be set up," she said. Those include determining how to tell if a dog is vaccinated before allowing the animal into the park and organizing volunteers to help with maintenance. A concern often voiced throughout the community is a worry about owners not cleaning up after their dogs, but Rhodes and Orol agreed that park users will need to self-police the off-leash area. "These dog owners are going to pick up after their dog," Rhodes said. "There's no ifs, ands or buts." If people witness a dog owner not cleaning up if an animal defecates, there would need to be rules to allow the park to prevent those owners from using the park in the future, Rhodes said. Orol, Rhodes and a few other West Hawaii residents are researching forming a nonprofit organization, Let Us Run Our Dogs, to promote, and possibly help maintain, the park.
Another consideration, and a way to help enforce park rules, would possibly be a permitting or membership process for the park, Rhodes said. The group is looking into whether that would be legal, if the park was on county property. Parks and Recreation Director Pat Engelhard said the county is allowed to require permits for some uses of county parks. If someone wants to camp at a county park, or rent a pavilion for a party, permits and security deposits are paid, she said. A big concern, from the county's perspective, is having enough employees to run a dog park. "If we had a dog park, we would have to have volunteers, because we do not have staff," she said.
Orol said she plans to attend a master plan meeting for Old Kona Airport Park next week. The county is paying $500,000 to replan how to use the park, which the state transferred to the county last year after at least three decades of the county asking for control. The plan will be at least the sixth for the land -- and the second by the county -- since the early 1970s. Orol said the planning process can take a long time, and she hopes, with the help of the next County Council, to get a park in place sooner, rather than later. Compromise and prioritization of projects at the park will be key in the planning process, Engelhard said. "There isn't as much space as everyone would want to have," she said.
