Dear Editor:
Addressing the letter published in the Nov. 30 edition of the Summerland Review, we would like to address some statements made regarding dog parks by Mr. Kosmack.
Mr. Kosmack misrepresents that having the one-acre off-leash dog park at Peach Orchard Beach Park would make it a single use park.
This is demonstrably not true. Weddings, reunions, barbecues and picnics, ball-toss, sunbathing and other events did not suddenly disappear from the park, they still happen. More than 1.3 acres of multi-use greenspace still remains available to use and the gazebo, water park, volleyball courts, beach, and playground all remain untouched and separate from the dog park.
READ ALSO: LETTER: Park needed for entire Summerland community
Another incorrect statement was that Peach Orchard was the only grassed park on the lake. There in fact are several, including Kinsmen, Beaver, Powell and Sunoka. The nearby “dog park/beach” he references is nothing more than a small (0.2 acre) strip of beach which cannot be fully fenced and being a rocky outcrop has it’s own safety concerns with users. We often see this dog beach misrepresented as the same thing as a “dog park,” but it is not the same thing.
For many years, communities such as Osoyoos, Lake Country and Coldstream have provided suitably sized full-fenced dog parks for safe space exercise and play among multiple users.
Peach Orchard is not a private waterfront. Like all park spaces, it is a public space meant to be actively enjoyed and utilized by many residents and visitors.
Dog-owning, tax-paying residents have waited long enough for their community to catch up and provide suitable places to enjoy their chosen methods of recreation. Now, after over a decade of study, how much more time should we tolerate wasting in re-examining the same solved equation?
This year the council, to their immense credit, decided to do more than just talk, and finally took the action with a test trial at Peach Orchard Park. As we have seen, the park has been an overwhelming success, and is very much loved by both residents and tourists. It now provides a suitably sized and safe space where multiple dog owners can exercise, play, and socialize together.
Before this, the main use of the park could be described as a year-round toilet for geese, and unlike dog owners, there is no one picking up their waste. We encountered vacationing campers this last summer that were ecstatic a dog park was now just down the road. The result we can all see is that Peach Orchard Park is now incredibly popular, with more people getting out and active, building deeper connections with the community and each other and crossing social and economic divides.
This dog park is an absolute win for Summerland and embodies everything that a park space should seek to accomplish.
Robert Hacking
Summerland Dog Owners Association
Summerland