Administration for the Town of Olds has suggested adding $15,000 to the 2012 budget as additional funds to develop an off-leash dog park just outside the town limits on land already owned by the town.
The facility would be located at the old landfill site northwest of town and would need to get Alberta Environment approval to change the use of the land and make sure that no environmental issues from its previous use would linger in the park.
A total of $35,000 was set aside for the project in the 2011 budget.
Barbara Hill, the town's director of community services, said the money set aside would cover fencing and other improvements that would make the area usable for the project. Hill said she isn't sure at this point how big the park could be.
“We still have to meet any (Mountain View) County planning guidelines for it and we would have to meet any environmental requirements because of its previous use. And that's what we would be working on before we could actually make it happen,” she said.
Hill said this site has been identified because the town has no available space large enough inside town limits that hasn't already been allocated for other uses.
“We have no pieces of land that are big enough or (that aren't) committed to other uses that … we could identify for that purpose right within the actual boundaries of the community,” she said.
Hill said the town can't do anything with recently annexed lands until they are subdivided, “and we only get a certain portion of them and usually they are used for a variety of different spaces.”
“This will give us a really nice space that already has some natural features on it that will give people a place that they can enjoy with their pets,” she said.
"This will give us a really nice space that already has some natural features on it that will give people a place that they can enjoy with their pets."Barbara Hill, director of community services, Town of Olds
