Wollongong City Council has earmarked a section of inner-city MacCabe Park to be transformed into a dedicated doggy paradise.
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However, the dog park – complete with fencing, seating for owners and $4,500 dog water bowls – will not become a reality until at least November 2017.
According to a report to next week’s council meeting, staff scoured the city for the best areas to establish new off-leash areas and the formal fenced-off park.
They recommended three new off-leash areas and the MacCabe Park space be considered during the council’s next “Dog on Beaches and Parks” review – at the end of next year.
Each new off-leash areas would cost about $20,000 each to set up, while a dedicated, fenced-off area along Keira Street in MacCabe Park would cost $26,000.
Included in these costs are several expensive “bubbler/dog water bowl[s]”, which cost $4,500 per unit, as well as waste bins ($300), park seating ($2,500 each) and rules and etiquette signage ($500 each).
Fencing around the MacCabe Park dog area would cost $15,000.
The report does not make clear exactly what form the dog bowls will take.
However, at North Wollongong beach the council has installed a refillable dog water bowl near the pavilion, which may give some indication about the form of the bafflingly pricey drinking receptacles.
In its review, the council assessed five parks which may be suitable as new off-leash areas and two sites for the formal dog parks.
The best new unfenced off-leash areas would be Dapto’s Reed Park, Bott Drive in Bellambi and the Illawarra Dog Training site at the Northern end of JJ Kelly Park.
Less suitable was the southern end of JJ Kelly Park and a reserve between Tate Street and Springhill Road.
Already in the city there are five off-leash park areas – in Helensburgh, Figtree, Unanderra, Port Kembla and Koonawarra –and 10 off-leash beaches.
Changes to the council’s Dogs on Beaches and Parks policy have proved contentious in recent times.
In 2014, potential changes to some of the off-leash beaches sparked nearly four months of heated protests and social media campaigns.
The pro-dogs-on-beaches lobby group "Unleash Our Beaches" clashed with those who wanted man’s best friend to be better tethered, and instigated mass dog marches in their campaign to keep dogs roaming free at Sharkeys, McCauleys, Little Austinmer and Stanwell Park beaches.