Dogfight Over Turf

Chips or turf? That’s the question that has made some dog-owning Costa Mesa residents rabid.

The City Council on Monday will consider whether to refurbish the worn-out but still very popular Bark Park at TeWinkle Memorial Park by reseeding it with grass or replacing the grass with wood chips. The council agreed in February to spend $150,000 to fix up the park at Arlington Road and Newport Boulevard, but just recently began exploring the use of mulch.

Sandra Bertram, a member of the Costa Mesa Bark Park Volunteer Committee, cannot imagine refurbishing the dog park with wood chips. “The dogs prefer [grass]. It’s where they want to be. It’s cool and comfortable to play on,” Bertram said recently as she made posters to get the word out about Monday’s hearing.

“The battle line was drawn between the city using the mulch, which we consider making [the park] a dumping yard,” and using grass, Bertram said. “To allow the maintenance crews to allow whatever comes out of the wood chipper into the park . . . sure, we use it to beautify and landscape with, but we shouldn’t be playing in it.”

Bertram said the committee is worried that refurbishing the park with about 12 inches of mulch could result in accidents and health problems for the dogs--especially smaller ones--because the wood chips get stuck in their paws or give dogs splinters. Bertram also said using mulch would result in limited access for the disabled and wheelchair-bound, although city officials say they have already made plans to address that issue.

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The city maintains that wood chips are a safe, practical and acceptable option. Parks Manager Dave Alkema said the city’s interest in using chips is based on the successful use of the material at Best Friends Park in Huntington Beach.

“They had skeptics” at Best Friends Park, Alkema said. “But it seems to be working for them. It’s pretty obvious that with turf, you have wear. And if you have wear, you have to close down areas of the park when they become muddy. With wood chips it’s open continually.”

“We haven’t had any complaints,” said Rick Ringle, vice president of the Best Friends Dog Park Foundation. “The bottom line is putting the dog in front of ourselves. . . . When you have grass in a dog park, the first few days it looks great. But after you have 50 plus dogs run through it, it’s going to turn the grass into dirt and mud.”

Ringle also contends that cleanup is easier with mulch--another point the dog park committee disputes.

Bertram isn’t convinced. She said that it was the dilapidated watering system that led to Bark Park’s current condition, and that the committee had been raising money privately to reseed the park and refurbish the watering system.