{"id":29413,"date":"2021-06-03T20:09:27","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T00:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=29413"},"modified":"2021-06-03T20:22:58","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T00:22:58","slug":"off-leash-dog-trail-considered-by-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/off-leash-dog-trail-considered-by-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Off-leash dog trail considered by Council"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019ve enjoyed walking your dog along Aurora\u2019s trails but have wished for the chance to let them off leash for a run, you might soon have some options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council last week unanimously voted in favour of a motion from Councillor Wendy Gaertner calling on staff to investigate a pilot project designating one trail and park in Aurora as off-leash during designated times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has been exceedingly difficult to find land in Aurora to accommodate off-leash dog parks,\u201d said Councillor Gaertner in her motion. \u201cIt may be viable and effective to permit off-leash use of some trails and parks during dedicated times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although her fellow Council members expressed concerns over safety as well as potential environmental impacts moving forward with the vision, they agreed that, at the very least, it was an idea worth exploring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First out of the gate to support the motion was Councillor Rachel Gilliland who said she \u201cfully supported\u201d off-leash dog park and trail areas, noting this was an issue previously addressed by Council. Councillor Sandra Humfryes also offered her support, stating that some other municipalities have gone down this road and it has proved successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the key there is an understanding which trails [are designated so the public] when they walk in there is clear signage and everyone knows what they are walking into,\u201d said Councillor Humfryes. \u201cThere have to be some real thought processes. Sometimes trails adjoin, there are different sections to take. You have to be careful and have one that will, perhaps, go from one end to the other that doesn\u2019t cause any of those surprises or issues of concern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar view was offered by Councillor Harold Kim who said communication needs to go hand-in-hand with any future policies for dog-owners and others who use the trails for exercise and recreation respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am open to seeing what options staff come back with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a safety perspective, Councillor Michael Thompson raised several issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery once in a while, we see emails from residents who walk the trails and talk about getting almost runover by bicycles and different incidents happening on the trails,\u201d he said. \u201cI do have a little bit of a concern with regards to using the trails as off-leash or runway tracks for dogs and other pets. If residents are feeling they are not always safe walking the trails, I would be concerned with the dogs as well. The park is less of an issue for me than the trails, but I want to make that comment in advance [of a report].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trails over parks were also more of a concern for Mayor Tom Mrakas who said that dog owners who walk their pets on leashes already experience issues from off-leash pets on trails, regardless of whether or not it is allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re looking at the safety of your own dog, I think there are some concerns,\u201d he said. \u201cEven from the safety perspective, we have to look at the connectivity of our trails. The thing that makes our trails so amazing is they connect from one end to the other. If we were to take one section and basically remove it for certain periods of time, maybe some people will say, \u2018I don\u2019t want to go in there at that time.\u2019 If they walk the trail, they have to move out, walk the roads, and get back into another area to enter back [into the trail system]. You lose that connectivity. I think that is a little bit of a problem, but I would like to see what staff bring back and where they could go with this and see if it can be achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff members didn\u2019t wait for a report to weigh in, however, with Director of Operations Al Downey suggesting several factors possibly getting in the way of making an off-leash trail a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are numerous complications with regards to this motion that would affect wildlife, so we need to do some consultation,\u201d said Mr. Downey. \u201cIt\u2019s a bylaw issue we need to address and make sure we are compliant with the bylaw or what amendments we would have to make to the bylaw. It\u2019s a little more complicated than just picking an area and saying, \u2018Let\u2019s try that out.\u2019 Once you allow an animal to leave the trail and go into the woods, we have no idea whether or not that animal is going to be protected, so there are concerns with regards that we do our very best that as long as you are on the trail it is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Downey estimated it could take up to three months for a report to come back to Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve enjoyed walking your dog along Aurora\u2019s trails but have wished for the chance to let them off leash for a run, you might soon have some options. Council last week unanimously voted in favour of a motion from Councillor Wendy Gaertner calling on staff to investigate a pilot project designating one trail and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7Ep","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-05 20:37:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}