WASHOUGAL — Mike Green lives on four acres north of Washougal and regularly brings his 1-year-old chocolate lab, Harley, to the Stevenson Off Leash Dog Park.
“I bring him for socialization,” Green said. “All I have to say is ‘Wanna go to the dog park?’ and he goes crazy.”
If Harley is to continue socializing with other dogs, Green will have to find a new dog park, or a new one is going to have to pop up in Washougal sometime in the next seven months.
The park will close Nov. 1, as announced on March 23 by the city and DOGPAW — short of Dog Owners Group for Park Access in Washington — a nonprofit organization that advocates for off-leash dog parks. The city and DOGPAW work together to run the Stevenson Off Leash Dog Park, with the city paying $1 per month to lease the park at 2801 Addy St., and DOGPAW maintaining the park.
The seven-plus acre park’s future has been up in the air the last few years, and the two groups are searching for a more permanent location. It originally opened in 2010 on land owned by the Stevenson family, but the family sold about 15 acres of land, including the park, to East Village Investors, a limited liability corporation run by Lone Wolf Investments, for $7.08 million in 2012.
Wes Hickey, owner of Lone Wolf, said there was an agreement after the sale that the park could stay open, but not for any specified length of time.
“I think everybody was aware it was a private piece of property and wasn’t going to be a dog park in perpetuity,” he said.
Hickey said the property is being marketed, but no plans are set for the land, which also includes a Bi-Mart next to the park.
“We have some conceptual mixed use plans that would be a combination of park space, office, multi-family and commercial,” he said.
Marcelo Heredia of Washougal understands why the park can’t stay in its current location, but will be sad to see it go. He’s at the park four or five times a week with one of or both of his dogs.
“It’s going to be tough to replace,” he said.
Suzanne Grover, Washougal’s parks, cemetery and facilities manager, is one of the people figuring out just how to do that, if possible. She said the city is looking for a spot that is at least five acres, and it must have off-street parking. She would like to see about 20 parking spots at the new location. Visitors to Stevenson can park at Bi-Mart.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t keep this spot,” she said. “It’s our most visited park in the city.”
Grover said that since the closing announcement went up on Facebook, she’s received a lot of phone calls and emails with suggestions for new parks, and she’s looking at everything. Ideally, she said the city will have a new location picked out and ready to go before the current park closes, allowing for a “smooth transition.”
Pet owners aren’t the only ones sad to see the park go. Volunteers from the West Columbia Gorge Humane Society regularly bring dogs from the shelter to the park on walks, to train and to socialize, according to Sara Bertrand, dog shelter manager. She said sometimes they take dogs to the park to expose them to other dogs and see how they’ll behave in public.
Bertrand thinks the closing of the dog park could lead to trouble elsewhere.
“We’re going to have a lot more off-leash dogs in other places, in places where it’s not a good idea for them to be off-leash,” she said.
Bertrand said she could see an influx of people walking dogs off leash in other parts of the city, including at the dike trail along the Columbia River, an area that already has a problem with off-leash dogs.
“In the summer, it’s already busy with the dog park,” she said. “Without the dog park, it’s going to be very busy.”
Heredia also has concerns about how the park closure will impact dike trail traffic.
“Where else do you go?” he said. “I’m going to be one of those guys on the dike trail with my dog leashed up while I ride my mountain bike.”
