City dog parks 'too expensive'

Dog parks are unlikely to be established in the Timaru district because of the cost and the likelihood that they would be under-used.

Councillors at Tuesday's district council resource planning and regulation committee will consider establishing designated dog parks, but a council officer's report recommends they don't go ahead.

Submitters to the latest Long Term Council Community Plan asked for dog parks to be set up, similar to those in Christchurch and Dunedin .

Based on the number of dogs and parks in the two cities, Timaru would need five areas each the size of Centennial Park, building and environmental services manager Dave Armstrong said. The cost of fencing parks, which would need to be at least 3000 square metres, was expected to be between $12,000 and $18,000. There would be additional costs associated with signs and bins and bin cleaning.

The location of the parks would be difficult to determine, influenced by factors such as needing to be within existing parks to minimise costs, neighbouring property owners accepting the parks, and the parks being located as to attract dog owners.

While Timaru had a high dog-to-population ratio, many of the animals were in rural areas.

"There are concerns among our animal control staff and reportedly among staff in areas where dog parks are established, that a concentration of dogs in a particular area is undesirable and that such concentrations give rise to dog-related incidents, such as fighting and biting."

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