We’re looking to hear from dog owners and park users alike over the next few weeks, as we work on finalising our draft People and Dogs in Parks Plan for the Yarra Ranges.
The plan, quite simply, outlines how Council will manage off-leash areas on land that we own or manage, using research and feedback from the community.
I know this is an area that people are extremely passionate about. We’ve had many conversations over the years about off-leash areas – where they should be and, in particular, how we manage to keep pets and people safe through things like guidelines and fencing.
We recently released our draft plan, which we created using feedback from the community.
In this plan, we’re proposing fully-enclosing some dog off-leash areas, in particular: Belgrave Lake Park, Coronation Park in Healesville, Elizabeth Bridge Reserve in Kilsyth, Kimberley Reserve in Chirnside Park and a partial fence at Wesburn Park.
We believe this will offer a good balance – we want to help keep pets safe from running away, while also encouraging people to keep control over their animals to avoid poor behaviour.
There are some off-leash areas that we’ll be reviewing, to see if they should be changed to on-leash areas. For example – Cherlynne Crescent Easement in Kilsyth, Elizabeth Bridge Reserve’s oval in Kilsyth, Hickman Place Reserve in Seville, Hull Road Drainage Reserve in Mooroolbark, Minak Reserve in Selby, Summerhill Park Drive Reserve in Mooroolbark and Wandin East Recreation Reserve.
Importantly, no final decisions have been made on these areas – we’re only suggesting to review them.
And, crucially, we want to hear from the community to see if we’ve got the balance right. When we drafted the plan, we got a significant amount of feedback from people who own dogs – who are the people more likely to be invested in the plan. But the reality is, we all use our parks and reserves.
We’d love to hear from people who don’t have pets and who use local parks, along with dog owners, to make sure we can fine tune our plan before it gets endorsed.
Visit shaping.yarraranges.vic.gov.au before 14 September to read the plan and leave your thoughts.
Cr Jim Child
Mayor of Yarra Ranges.
