COSTA MESA : Public’s Donations Sought for Dog Park

Residents and local businesses responded Tuesday to a City Council challenge for public donations to build a three-acre “bark park,” where dogs would be allowed to run off a leash.

The City Council had approved the plans Monday for the park, but left it unfunded. The staff design calls for fencing in the southeast area of TeWinkle Park. The project would cost $11,500, including chain-link fencing, signs and a parking lot.

More than a dozen residents called Tuesday to asked where to send their checks to support the park, said Keith Van Holt, community services director.

And The PetCare Co. of Newport Beach offered to donate the fence, which will cost $6,000.

“It’s important to us that the community have a safe place to let their dogs run free,” said PetCare manager Lee Hein, adding that his company wants a sign noting their donation of the fence as a condition of the gift.

Much of the support for the park was generated by Costa Mesa resident Patricia Enns, who spent much of Tuesday calling pet-supply companies and friends to raise money.

“I’m a dog-lover,” Enns said. “That’s why I’m getting involved.”

Hein said it was Enns who convinced him to donate the fence. And Enns said Tuesday that she plans to press her brother-in-law, a contractor, to build the parking lot, which the city estimates will cost $5,000.

And Enns said that while doing an errand she ran into Terry Gleeson, account manager for Promotional Signs Unlimited, and convinced her to give the city a cut rate on signs.

The staff proposal for the park estimates that signs for park hours and rules would cost $500.

Gleeson said the park would be welcomed by others besides dog owners. “There’s kids that don’t have a dog, and they could go there too,” she said.

Many residents spoke in favor of the park at the council meeting, and some offered to spend their own money on the facility.

By city ordinance, dogs must be kept on a leash, and many residents say they drive their pets to the county’s only dog park--in Laguna Beach.

“We would love to have a dog park here,” resident Jeff Wallace told the council. He said he exercises his dogs three or four times a week in Laguna Beach.

People who want to donate money for the dog park should call (714) 754-5300.