San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, along with Councilman Ken Yeager's office, has been working on developing a dog park in District 6 for 1 ¹/2 years. On Oct. 28, Yeager's office held a community meeting to present a proposal for a fenced-in dog run, as a pilot program in Bramhall Park on Willow Street. The park is scheduled to open in spring 2004.

More than 50 people, almost all dog owners, attended the meeting at Willow Glen United Methodist Church to hear the city's proposal. Parks manager Steve Roehmer said the city had reviewed the community's input last April on proposals for Wallenberg, River Glen and Bramhall parks, and chose to do a one-year trial at Bramhall Park because it "made the most sense and had the least impact."

He cited its proximity to downtown and the site's varied landscape as pluses, while saying that Wallenberg Park was under-used and River Glen was more congested.

Roehmer said the city would allocate one acre on the western edge of Bramhall Park, which would provide some lawn area, tree coverage and a slope for dogs to explore off-leash. The area would be enclosed by the city.

"It's beautiful," said Wednesday Dull, who already walks her dog under the redwood trees in that section of the park every day. "We call that our Yosemite."

Roehmer said that although Bramhall is a highly used park, the west end is more removed and has less of an impact on the ballpark, picnic area and other sections of the park. But he added that if the volume of park users substantially increases at peak times, there may be problems.

He said the parks division is trying to find a balance between the many requests for a dog park, neighbors' concerns over noise and parking, and not letting the dogs interfere with other park activities.

This spring the city will erect the fence, post signs and provide clean-up materials for the users of the dog park. But the pilot program will not have permanent amenities like water and benches, Roehmer said.

After the one-year test, the program's success will be evaluated based on the number of park-users' complaints about dogs running off-leash outside the fenced-in area. Criteria for the program's permanency will be based on the number of users, neighbors' responses and feedback from the park maintenance staff, Roehmer said.

Susan Gutterman, who visited Miyuki Park—an off-leash dog park on Miyuki Drive and Santa Teresa Boulevard—with her dog, said she was "appalled" at the appearance of that San Jose dog park.

"It had dirty, torn-up toys, nobody was there and it smelled really bad," she said. The neglected look promptly turned her off and she took her dog home, because "my backyard is more attractive," Gutterman said.

She added that she favored the trial at Bramhall, but said, "The city needs to have a commitment to keep it up."

Others raised concerns at the meeting over the high number of dog owners and the need for more dog parks, the noise impact on neighbors and the fear that a few irresponsible owners could ruin the project's success for all.

Roehmer said that resources only exist for one dog park in District 6 and that hopefully dog owners would come at different times throughout the day, which would reduce traffic and noise. Roehmer said the next step was to give formal notification to the neighbors adjacent to the west end of the park.

During the meeting San Jose Animal Care and Services Director Jon Cicirelli said that most dog barking occurs as the dogs approach the park, but once dogs are off the leash, they quiet down. He cautioned dog owners that letting dogs off the leash before entering the dog enclosure would result in more complaints to animal services and the parks division and give the dog park a negative rap.

Many of the residents were overwhelmingly supportive of the plan and offered to help fundraise, supply materials or even build the off-leash park.

"I'm just so happy," Dull said about the pilot program. "The city and Yeager worked so hard on this."

Yeager said adding a dog park to Bramhall may help cut down on "illegal activities" in the park, which is something the neighbors want.

"My sense is it's going to be a success," Yeager said.

For more information or to offer volunteer support, contact San Jose Parks Manager Steve Roehmer at 408.277.2734.