Appleton's push for dog exercise area fizzles amid neighborhood opposition

APPLETON — An effort to create an off-leash dog exercise area at the southwest corner of Pierce Park lost whatever momentum it might have had at a neighborhood meeting earlier this week.

Common Council member Alex Schultz, a dog owner and proponent of the idea, had expected an even mix of support and resistance from nearby residents. Instead, of the 55 or so attendees, he estimated 80% of them opposed the idea due to noise, odor, parking and safety concerns.

"We didn't anticipate this much blowback," Schultz told The Post-Crescent, conceding that it probably was best to table the idea and look elsewhere for a dog exercise area.

"When you're trying to do things for the city, you want to make sure that the majority of the community is behind what you're trying to do because we don't want to take this to the next stage of an actual design and have votes on it if we know it's going to fail."

The proposal presented to the neighborhood showed a 1-acre dog exercise area in a flat, wooded portion of the park, at the northeast corner of South Mason and West Pine streets. A city-owned parking lot is located about 100 feet to the north, just south of Jefferson Elementary School.

"At least in my experience, it doesn't get a lot of activity," Schultz said of the park space. "That was my interpretation anyway."

How did neighbors feel about using some of Pierce Park for dogs?

Neighbors expressed concerns with the noise of barking dogs from sunrise to sunset, the smell of dog poop, the interaction between schoolchildren and dogs, and traffic congestion during school hours.

Resident Janie Stevenson said the greenspace is used by students from Jefferson and Xavier High School for science projects or for playing Frisbee.

"To make this an area that favors dogs instead of our children is unconscionable," she said.

Stevenson also shared worries over student safety.

"This is just inviting people who the children don't know, animals they don't know, with a 4-foot-high fence that any dog worth its salt can jump over in a heartbeat," she said. "Dogs do unexpected things, as do children."

Appleton has no dog park or exercise area

Appleton, with more than 75,000 people, has no dog park or dog exercise area.

The closest dog park for Appleton residents is Outagamie County's Northland Dog Park at 2830 French Road in Grand Chute.

Appleton's Park and Recreation Master Plan lists dog facilities among the top four most requested park amenities, along with trails, enhanced river access and splashpads.

The master plan states as an objective, "Evaluate potential policies, park improvements or new facilities to accommodate the needs of dog owners, including but not limited to downtown area neighborhoods."

Arbutus Park, 501 W. Atlantic St., is identified as a location for a dog exercise area in the city's Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan, but the only money earmarked for it is $40,000 for design services in 2028, according to the city's 2024 budget.

Schultz said the proposal for Pierce Park was an effort to provide a short-term solution at a relatively low cost. Fencing, double gates and benches are all that's needed for a dog exercise area, he said.

"We've been chasing this for years and really haven't made any progress at all," he said. "We've got a lot more people moving into the downtown district. A lot of those people are coming with pets, and they've really got no place to go to let them go off-leash and do some socializing, exercising."

Appleton will continue to search for a suitable location

Schultz said the Pierce Park neighborhood meeting was a starting conversation for a dog park.

"I have a sense that this site is probably not going to work, even though I personally think it still could," he said. "We will be looking at some other options in the district to see if there's a couple of other ideas that we can put forth that aren't quite as tightly positioned against homes in the neighborhood."

Schultz said he has some options in mind but wants to vet them with the parks and recreation staff before airing them publicly.

What are Appleton dog owners doing in the mean time?

Parks and Recreation Director Dean Gazza said the demand for dog facilities remains high, even among people who don't own dogs.

"People are wanting this because people just let their dogs run loose in the park," Gazza said. "It would be nice to have a dedicated place where people can take their dog and take it off the leash and let it play and socialize with other dogs, versus just turning it loose in the park."

Appleton has an ordinance that prohibits dogs in parks unless they are on a sidewalk, trail or road and are restrained by a leash no more than 8 feet long.

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton's idea for dog exercise area at Pierce Park prompts blowback