Austin Off-Leash Areas (West, Riverside: construction, closing, live) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

ChrisInAustin · 10-04-2009, 04:33 PM

As anyone who lives here probably knows, short of something radical in the next several weeks, Bull Creek District Park -- one of 11 functioning OLAs in town -- will be closing down on November 1st. This "temporary" closure will be at a minimum somewhere between 8-10 months, and based on the universal rule of project underestimation, probably more like two years.

There is a whole slew of information about the why's (bacterial levels, park overuse and degradation), and slowly were getting more about the how's and what's (project plans for restoration, visions for the post-restoration park, etc.)

I'm an OLA supporter and have been a daily user of the park with my dog since I got him, so I started off my involvement with efforts to keep the park open with a rather myopic view: Why would anyone want to eliminate dogs or close the park? Over time I realized there were of course other opinions, and wasn't surprised to see comment sections on local news site blogs blow up with pro and con sides yelling absurdities at each other. What did surprise me was learning that among official letters and emails to city officials, the split is also far from lopsided. I was always under the impression that Austin tended to skew towards the dogs.

I was just wondering among those who read and post on this forum what opinions were. Not necessarily on Bull Creek per se, or bacteria in the water, etc, but to the need for OLA's in the city in general, issues with closing them, and what you think would be ideal for dog parks in Austin.

waimeamom · 10-05-2009, 04:12 PM

I'm puzzled that no one else has relied to this yet.
We just adopted a lovely dog from Town Lake, and live within walking distance of the Bull Creek dog park. We are looking forward to taking her there as soon as her spay stitches have healed. The dogpoop bags are arriving today from Amazon and I will be watching her like a HAWK when we go there.
I don't really know how I feel about the subject. I guess if there were more places like Bull Creek, there wouldn't be so many dogs coming to this one place. But at the same time.... I would love to be able to take my kid down there to swim. I'm interested to see other opinions...

atxcio · 10-05-2009, 05:02 PM

There are other off-leash areas, for sure. But Bull Creek is one of the bigger, nicer ones. There is one near Peace Park... along the Shoal Creek greenbelt off Lamar. There is one off Riverside near Travis Heights. And of course, auditorium shores at Ladybird lake.

waimeamom · 10-15-2009, 10:29 AM

I have seen this dog park posted on a couple places, and driven by. It's just over a pedestrian walkway that goes out towards Shoal Creek Blvd. While it does look like an empty open space, there does seem to be some construction in the middle of the "park". Am I looking at the right place? Does anyone know more details?

atxcio · 10-15-2009, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waimeamom

I have seen this dog park posted on a couple places, and driven by. It's just over a pedestrian walkway that goes out towards Shoal Creek Blvd. While it does look like an empty open space, there does seem to be some construction in the middle of the "park". Am I looking at the right place? Does anyone know more details?

According to the city web site, it is an off-leash area called "Far West Right-of-way". It's not technically a park, it's a flood control (drainage) area. The trail through it is an excellent bike or walking route, though -- connects NW Austin to the Shoal Creek trail / bike route, which eventually connects you all the way to Ladybird Lake...

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/dogparks.htm

brattpowered · 10-15-2009, 02:04 PM

I think Austin does "skew toward the dogs" but that doesn't necessarily mean that they should take precedence over humans when it concerns a traditional swimming hole that has been turned into a cesspool. I have a dog myself and am all for letting them be wherever they can when accompanied by a responsible owner, but I am also a human being who enjoys swimming and would prefer to do so without contracting giardiasis or worms. There was plenty of notice and publicity around this to try to get people to be responsible, but it was ignored.

CptnRn · 10-15-2009, 02:22 PM

I agree completely with brattpowered. Its a shame one of Austin's historically wonderful swimming holes has been turned into a dog park. I personally like dogs but do NOT want to go swimming with a bunch of them. Something like this can be accommodated in a large body of water, where any contamination can be largely diluted, such as Lake Travis, but I can't see encouraging it in smaller more congested waterways.