PETS : Dog Owners Growl as Free-Run Zone Closes

When a group of frolicking dogs knocked down a sign posted at one of the three Santa Monica parks where unleashed pooches can roam free, their owners smiled at the irony.

The sign at Marine Park’s area for unfettered pets reads: “Dog run will be closed July 5 through September due to turf renovations.”

Dog owners, who learned of the closure when the sign was posted two weeks ago, say they do not think the city intends to reopen the area for dogs, at the western end of Marine Park, 1401 Marine St.

In fact, after a year of negotiating with the Santa Monica Recreation and Parks Commission to find an alternative pet play area, some owners have accused officials of purposely contributing to the deterioration of the area as a pretext for closing it.

“That’s just how they work,” said dog owner Vince Trankina, who was at the park last week with his 7-year-old boxer, Little Foot. “They are just trying to look for any way out of having a park for dogs. They don’t want the complaints from neighbors, and they don’t take the dog owners very seriously.”

Park commissioners say Marine Park is being closed to install new sod--part of a park renovation program started two years ago.

“Last year was Clover [Park]. This year Marine,” said Frank Schwengel, chairman of the city’s parks commission. “It’s part of a plan.”

Schwengel admitted that the nearly half-acre section for dogs at Marine Park may not open again because of complaints from residents, but he said an alternative site would be found for dog owners to use.

Last summer, in response to early objections from neighbors about the Marine Park dog run, the City Council directed the parks commission to select an alternative site. Last month, the council told the commission to find a new location for the dog run by the time Marine Park is scheduled to reopen in September.

The pet areas at Marine Park and at the eastern end of Joslyn Park, 633 Kensington Road, opened last July after a six-month trial period. When the city opened these off-leash areas, the council also passed a law allowing dogs on leashes at all city parks.

Before that, the only public park space for dogs, either off or on leashes, was a one-seventh-acre section of Memorial Park, 1401 Olympic Ave.

Since the pet play areas at Marine and Joslyn parks were opened, large areas of grass have been worn down to dirt. Seven homeowners whose yards border Marine Park have complained of excessive barking and the smell of dog urine.

The homeowners, some of whom own dogs, say they like the idea of pet play areas--just not next to their back yards.

“We’re all in favor of it,” said Bill Schwabe, a resident near Marine Park who owns a bull terrier. “But as a principle it should not abut houses.”

Dog owners who use both parks say recreation officials, under pressure from residents, have hastened the parks’ deterioration as an excuse to eliminate the pet areas altogether.

“They turn the sprinklers on right before the dogs get there so they will tear the lawn up more,” said Karen R. Brooks, founder of Santa Monica Dog, a group of pet owners who lobbied the city for two years to allow dogs on leashes in city parks and to create the off-leash play areas.

Brooks said recreation officials have ignored requests to water the lawn at different hours.

With Marine Park closed for the installation of new sod, the pet area at Joslyn Park will become overcrowded, said Rita Lewis, owner of two dogs that frequent Marine Park. Fights between dogs will break out, she said, and park officials will use that, too, as a reason to close that dog run.

Barbara Stinchfield, assistant director of the Department of Community and Cultural Services, which oversees the city’s parks, called the dog owners’ fears unfounded.

“I can attest that there is absolutely no intent to damage the turf of those parks,” she said.

Joe McGrath, superintendent of the department’s parks and sport division, said he has tried to accommodate complaints about the watering schedule but is limited to using the sprinklers during the parks’ off hours, including the early morning before the dogs arrive.

Park commissioners say that they have done their best to keep an area for dogs at Marine Park or to find a new location, but that limited park resources have made the search difficult.