A long-awaited multi-use path will be added to the No. 3 Road Bark Park in Southeast Richmond to separate off-leash dogs from pedestrians and cyclists.
The park, which has an off-leash dog area, has been a popular spot for dog owners, pedestrians, rollers and cyclists.
However, residents and local groups have raised safety concerns in recent years when off-leash dogs and cyclists use the park at the same time. In some incidents, dog owners reported aggressive behaviour from cyclists riding through the park towards their dogs to the City of Richmond.
After months of discussions, Richmond city council passed a motion to add a multi-use path for cyclists and pedestrians at the park, during the parks, recreation and cultural services committee meeting on May 28.
Councillors voted unanimously to install a new multi-use path along the north edge of the Bark Park, with a fence placed along it to separate it from the off-leash area.
The new path will start at the entrance of the park's parking lot and the majority of Bark Park will remain as an off-leash dog area.
Jerome Dickey, a community advocate and former council candidate, collected more than 300 signatures for a petition calling for the physical separation of people and dogs last October.
"Dogs are triggered by moving things and bikes move fast. That’s just the nature of it. It just takes one unexpected move by either a bike or a dog and you’ve got incidents," said Jerome Dickey, who said he visits the park almost everyday.
"[The new path] provides a safe and separated path for bikers to ride through the park and not have to worry about hurting someone's dog; it also provides a multi-use path for people who do not want to walk through an off-leash park for whatever reason."
Richmond resident Michelle Cloete said the volume at the park has significantly increased in recent years and there is an urgent need for safety measures to be in place.
"I have seen cyclists bearing down the gravel path and falling because they were speeding, not to mention I have also witnessed a lot of altercations between cyclists and dog owners."
Staff said the new path will require the removal of seven to 13 trees and the relocation of nine trees. The work is estimated to cost $385,000.
However, Coun. Bill McNulty said he believed pedestrians should be separated from bikes and scooters, which can go very fast sometimes, and there should be cyclist and e-scooter exclusive lanes.
He asked staff to look into the feasibility and costs of installing such lanes on No. 3 Road from the dyke to Finn Road, on Finn Road east to Garden City Road, and on Garden City Road.
He also asked staff to examine the feasibility of reducing the driving speed limit on these roads from the current 50 kilometres per hour to 30 kilometres per hour.
"I'm just hoping we will get the speeds reduced and we add to the number of kilometres for the cyclists, and we keep the dog park safe," said McNulty.
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