Hill Street Dog Park Update: Share Your Solutions, Meeting Summary, Observations, More Signatures

Thank you to everyone who came to our August 13 Community Meeting, shared ideas, asked questions and helped us think through what comes next.

You can read the meeting summary and minutes here:

https://hillstreetdogpark.ca/hill-street-dog-park-community-meeting-summary-2026-08-13.pdf

📝 Share Your Solution is open

We are now collecting community ideas for how the small-dog area could be improved or reconfigured.

You don’t need to be a designer, know the exact measurements or have every detail figured out. We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible to participate.

There are five ways to share your solution:

* Draw it on the map — sketch directly onto our interactive park map. Move the fence, add gates or mark other features.
* Print it & draw it — download the printable submission form, sketch your idea on the park map and write out your plan.
* Write it out — no drawing needed. Just describe  your plan in your own words.
* Upload a plan you’ve made — send us a photo of a sketch, PDF or drawing you’ve created another way.
* Say it out loud — send us a voice note, or ask us to sit down with you and help write it up.

If none of these options works for you, email hillstreetdogpark@gmail.com and we’ll find a way.

You can submit more than one solution if you have different ideas.

We especially want to hear from people who currently use and value the small-dog area. The goal is not to eliminate a dedicated small-dog space. It’s to find a configuration that works as well as possible for everyone who uses Hill Street Dog Park.

Submissions close Friday, August 28.

🗳️ What happens after August 28?

Once submissions close, we’ll review them for completeness and adapt them to a consistent format so the different ideas can be compared fairly.

The community will then have an opportunity to vote on which solutions should move forward, with the leading proposals ultimately presented to the City.

📐 We are still waiting for accurate City drawings and dimensions

We STILL have not received drawings and dimensions from the City that accurately reflect where the small-dog fence was actually constructed.

Accurate information is important both for evaluating possible solutions and for making sure the information we’re sharing with the community is correct.

We have formally requested the relevant records through Ontario’s Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) process. The response to our request is due August 27.

We’ll share what we receive with the community.

📊 Please keep submitting observations

This remains extremely important.

Every observation helps build a clearer picture of how Hill Street Dog Park is actually being used. The more observations we collect, across different days and times, the stronger the evidence we have when we bring the community’s concerns and proposed solutions to the City.

You can submit a new observation every 20 minutes while you’re at the park.

If you make a mistake, you can also edit your observation for up to 15 minutes after submitting it.

Even if you’ve already submitted observations, please keep going. The more observations we have, the stronger our case.

You can submit observations through hillstreetdogpark.ca.

✍️ We still need more petition signatures

Please continue signing and sharing the petition.

Ask friends, family, neighbours, other dog owners and anyone else who supports a fair reconsideration of the current layout to add their name.

For context, the two petitions associated with establishing the small-dog area ultimately reached approximately 470 and 590 signatures. Continuing to grow our petition helps demonstrate that there is also substantial community support for reconsidering how the space is currently configured.

Prefer to sign on paper? A paper copy of the petition is available in the Lost & Found box at Hill Street Dog Park, so you can add your signature there while you’re at the park.

And if you’ve already signed, one of the most helpful things you can do now is share the petition with someone else.

🐾 Thank you

Whether you’ve signed the petition, submitted observations, attended a meeting, shared a solution or simply talked to another park user about what’s happening, thank you.

Our goal is to bring the City something constructive: strong evidence about how the park is being used, community-developed alternatives, and a clear indication of public support for reconsidering the current configuration.

Keep checking hillstreetdogpark.ca for updates. We’ll post new information as we receive it and keep everyone updated as submissions and community voting move forward.

If you have any questions, concerns or ideas, please email hillstreetdogpark@gmail.com or get in touch through the website.

Hill Street Dog Park Community Coalition
hillstreetdogpark.ca