To the City of Delta Council and Delta Parks and Recreation Department:

A large community of dog owners in the Tsawwassen area are urgently in need of added off-leash options that are safe and viable. 

Very few options exist in Tsawwassen for adequate off-leash areas: 

• Pebble Hill off-leash park is not desirable for people or dogs. It has stagnant water-filled ditches and puddles that are unclean (and potentially harmful to dogs), and the field is often muddy and is rocky and uneven. Stagnant water at this park can, and has, lead to bacterial illnesses in dogs. 
• For the last 3 years (and granted there were delays because of Covid) there have been at least 2 forums to gather information about making the PH dog park better; to date there has been done no work to that end. Dog owners of Tsawwassen have brought attention to the needs of this community to the City multiple times with no concessions or improvements offered. 
• Beach Grove park is small and does not provide room for dogs to run. Anyone with a medium to large-sized dog requires the use of grass fields in which the dogs can wrestle, play, chase balls etc. 
• Dennison Park is very small, and because it is adjacent to roads is not safe.
• Boundary Bay Park is decent, though it too has issues with gross mud and stagnant water.

Fields like Pebble Hill Park (the soccer field) and Brandrith Park are examples of spaces that are only used very minimally each week for their official designated purpose. And yet dozens of people who own dogs in Tsawwassen are desperate for spaces that are free of gross mud and dirty water, where our dogs can play and people can gather. Due to lack of good options, some dog owners gather at sports fields, but do so knowing they risk by-law tickets. 

Multiple proposals by Tsawwassen dog owners to advance the quality and number of dog parks have been made to the City, which have resulted in community consultations that have led nowhere. We again ask that the City take this issue seriously and do something to make better options for people to run and socialize their dogs, which in turn benefits the social and mental well-being of the community.

Our proposal suggests several options, including:

1. Brandrith Park could very easily be turned into a multi-use park, with selected designated times for off-leash play. With minimal expense the middle portion of Brandrith (with the mostly enclosed baseball diamond) only needs some kind of barrier restricting dogs from exiting out from the dugouts. This would be a very affordable option for the City.
2. Alternately, the back field at Brandrith Park could benefit from the addition of a fenceline that extends along the path leading from the parking lot to the rock retaining wall at the back of the school grounds. A fence that connects the baseball diamond fencing to the school grounds would help any school latecomers not feel they’re at risk of a dog approaching them. 
3. Many cities employ a multi-use function at parks, especially those that are sports fields, which are often only used some evenings and weekends. As a great example, Pebble Hill Park (the grass field) is a wide open space, set back from the street, and is much more suitable for dogs to run and play than the rocky, muddy off-leash area. The vast majority of dog owners are conscientious about cleaning up after their animal and respecting the safety of citizens who walk through the area. The off-leash portion of Pebble Hill Park is already open to anyone to walk through; all we are asking is that the grass field also be considered off-leash, with restrictions. For example, from 9-12 am and 5-7 pm weekdays, barring any scheduled sporting events that would take precedence over off-leash activity.
4. Almost any municipality that contains a body of water, whether lake or ocean, allocates a small section for off-leash. We request a short section of shoreline with marked poles somewhere south of Centennial Beach to be designated for off-leash.

We believe each of these options to be more than tenable, and respectfully ask that these requests be considered with urgency. Dog owners in Tsawwassen need the community that has developed, and we need safe, mud-free options to be  proximity to where we live, work, and take our kids to school. We hope to see our taxes put to good use, as well as our public spaces. By-law has better uses of its time than to ticket people throwing balls for their dogs in empty fields. Shouldn’t these vacant spaces be put to good use, while being an option—for a very minimal set amount of time a day—for people to congregate, exercise their dogs, and be on their way? 

This petition makes a very reasonable request with a few options for the City to consider, intended for all parties to feel we have achieved a win-win as opposed to a right or wrong scenario. People who merely need to run their dogs for a short span of time shouldn’t be penalized for finding spaces to do so, within reason, without requiring them to drive a half hour away. We are requesting that you consider implementing a few by-law changes that would cost much less than a brand new off-leash park.