Residents said they just recently learned about the proposal, through a letter sent from the city on Jan. 23. The letter triggered an immediate phone call to San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Parks Manager Steve Roemer, who arranged a meeting that was held on Feb. 24.

"We're not anti-dog," said Rick Curry, who lives on Weaver Avenue south of the park. "But we weren't part of the process."

The city has held three community meetings in the last year and a half—most recently on Oct. 28 when Bramhall Park was examined as a viable option—to discuss locations for a suitable dog park in District 6.

But neighbors said they didn't receive notification of the Oct. 28 meeting or learn of the plan until the January letter, informing them that the southwest portion of the park would be fenced off for dogs in March or April. But Roemer said the city left fliers on house porches that were within 500 feet of the park before the Oct. 28 meeting.

"Unless everyone has a really bad memory, we never saw a notice," said Curry, adding that neighbors also don't remember receiving the Willow Glen Resident the week an article on the proposal appeared.

To confirm his suspicions, Curry canvassed the immediate neighborhood, and only one homeowner out of 37 supported the dog park's location and only one other resident had heard of the proposal.

"It's the first time I've had the experience of neighbors saying they didn't get notification," Roemer said to the group of eight residents who met at the park on Feb. 24 to air their concerns. "We didn't connect, I can't say why it happened that way."

The eight neighbors expressed concerns about noise, the 200-foot proximity to backyards, the already overuse of the park, sanitation, parking issues, disability access and the safety of children at the adjoining Little League fields.

Roemer said that Wallenberg Park and a vacant lot behind Safeway on Hamilton Avenue were being looked at as long-term prospects for a permanent dog park, but are not cost-feasible in the short term.

The city has been trying to balance the desire of many residents, who want an area in a park that can be reconfigured as an off-leash dog-park facility, while accommodating park users who are afraid of dogs.

"We're trying to look for solutions and a compromise," Roemer said.

Duffy D'Angelo, who lives on Westwood Drive, said he's convinced the city would be putting the dog park in the wrong place if it's located at Bramhall Park.

"Every dog park I've ever seen is flat," said D'Angelo, adding that he talked to neighbors with dogs who said they wouldn't trust letting their dog go out of sight in a dog park at the bottom of a hill like the one being proposed.

"If they put this in, it will not be temporary," D'Angelo said, noting that the number of dog owners who support it is greater than the neighbors who oppose the project. "The city will get more heat if they try to take it out."

Shelly McNamara, who lives on Weaver Avenue, said another six months of community meetings with all the parties involved would lead to a more widely supported project.

"It's our peace of mind," Curry said. "And dogs should have a place that's better planned, not in an impacted park next to homes."

After meeting with residents living near Bramhall Park, Roemer said the parks department and Ken Yeager's office plan to continue reviewing the issue. Roemer wants to find a workable solution for those in favor and those opposed to the proposal.

A community meeting on the dog-park project is scheduled for March 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Willow Glen United Methodist Church, 1420 Newport Ave.