Council approves new dog park

With the old dog park severely damaged in the November floods, Merritt City Council has voted to approve moving the dog park to a new location.

“The damage to the dog park was extensive, and it has remained unusable since the flooding began. As a result, dogs and dog owners in Merritt have not had a place where dogs can play with each other, or run off leash,” wrote Director of Corporate Services, Greg Lowis.

The new dog park is a city owned parcel near Government and Main. The new park would be slightly larger than the original park with additional parking onsite.

“We will incorporate a small dog, large dog separation in some way,” said CAO Sean Smith.

The public did raise questions around soil sampling of the site, however Smith did note that samples from across the city have been coming back clean.

The City is receiving insurance funding from the loss of the original dog park which will be put towards the new park.

Council asked staff to investigate lighting, water, and seating options for the park as well. Full costing of the project has not been determined.