San Mateo County Dog Management Committee Invites Review of Policy Recommendations

Article Source: County of San Mateo CA

For the past 11 months the San Mateo County Parks’ Dog Management Committee, comprised of 10 community members appointed by the San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Commission, has been drafting policy recommendations to assist the Parks Department in developing dog management policies for all San Mateo County Parks.

During the process, the Committee has reviewed the dog management practices of other agencies in the Bay Area and other states, received presentations by topic experts, including water quality professionals and the Peninsula Humane Society, and reviewed published material. The Committee has also received oral and written comments on dogs in parks at public meetings, and through email and a survey. Committee meetings have been open to the public throughout the process.

The Committee’s work is now reflected in an overarching policy recommendation accompanied by 10 secondary policies on such topics as conflict avoidance, protection of natural resources, enforcement, and consideration of new dog access areas. The policies do not identify specific park locations where dog access will change.

"The policies provide the guidance by which the Department will consider and evaluate locations for dog access,” says Sarah Birkeland, acting Parks Director. According to Birkeland, one example of applying a policy is that of conflict avoidance which could lead the Department to avoid introducing dog access in parks that have long-standing and heavy use by equestrians.

The Committee invites the community to review its recommendations at three meetings:

· September 6: Veterans Senior Memorial Center, 1455 Madison Ave., Redwood City
· September 7: Burlingame Park and Recreation Department, 850 Burlingame Ave., Burlingame
· September 14: San Pedro Valley Park, 600 Oddstad Blvd, Pacifica.

The meetings will begin at 7 p.m. and conclude at 8:30 p.m. Each meeting will feature work stations in order to facilitate conversations about policy recommendations and obtain participant’s specific suggestions for changes.

Community members who are not able to attend meetings, will be able to review the recommendations and provide suggestions through an electronic survey. For information about the Dog Management Committee’s progress, the policy recommendations and link to the survey, visit: http://parks.smcgov.org/dogs-at-SMC-parks

The Committee will consider all information gathered from the community meetings as it works to finalize its recommendation which is scheduled to be presented to the San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Commission at the December 7 meeting.

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Robert Riechel

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Photo Credit: San Bruno CA Patch Archives

Source Credit: County of San Mateo CA

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