Dog park in Hawthorn scrapped by Boroondara councillors

Boroondara Council was in the doghouse with the community over its plans to develop a Hawthorn East reserve. It has now backed down on the proposal, with one councillor admitting “we were barking up the wrong tree”.

Boroondara Council has scrapped plans to create a dedicated dog park in Hawthorn East following intense community opposition.

The plan would have seen a 1.5m high fence erected around part of Fritsch Holzer Park, and a shared path built for use by dog walkers, pedestrians and cyclists.

More than 50 people applauded last night when the council unanimously voted to back down on both proposals, with staff noting survey results showed the majority of park users wanted to retain the park as is.

Cr Jack Wegman said he’d received the message “loud and clear” from Junction Ward constituents who called and emailed him to oppose the project, as had other councillors.

Cr Jim Parke said it was clear the council was “barking up the wrong tree” by floating plans to create a fenced dog park at Fritsch Holzer, but he said he was frustrated that after years of investigative work, Boroondara still didn’t have a dedicated fenced in dog park.

“If this is what success looks like, I’d hate to see what failure looks like,” Cr Parke said.

Council staff noted in last night’s meeting agenda that Fritsch Holzer was identified as the preferred location for the park following a review of a number of sites in the municipality.

Speaking before the meeting Millicent Burke, who founded the group Friends of Fritsch Holzer Park whose members opposed the project, said she hoped the council would listen to popular public opinion and reconsider the proposal.

At the meeting Hawthorn East woman Valerie Farmer said people feared the shared paths would result in injuries as cyclists, pedestrians and dog walkers competed for space.

She also said the park, which is popular among dog walkers, already functioned well as a place for people to exercise their pets off leash.

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“We fought a lot 21 years ago to have a natural park with just trees and open space, and it’s an off leash park, and it would spoil the whole outlook of the park having a fence,” she said.

Boroondara acting director of environment and infrastructure Carolyn Terry said survey respondents approved parts of the dog park proposal, including installing a drinking fountain and dog water bowl, upgrading the central gravel path, and planting new shrubs and trees.

Council staff noted in their report $90,000 would be spent implementing these improvements and connecting the existing path network to Camberwell Rd.