Dogs chosen over tennis courts at Bark Park

Local dog lovers were thrown a bone Tuesday night, when the Costa Mesa City Council took another step toward expanding the city’s popular Bark Park.

The council voted unanimously to direct the Parks and Recreation Commission to consider changes to the TeWinkle Park Master Plan, which would allow an expansion of the park’s “large dog” area into an area previously reserved for additional tennis courts. A temporary extension of the “small dog” section of the park, pending the final arrangements approved by the commission, was also approved.

The park, first opened in 1994, is the city’s only designated “non-leash” zone where residents can take their pets to play and socialize with other canines.

As such, Costa Mesa Bark Park Foundation Vice President Terry Tyson said, its popularity has grown a bit too quickly in 14 short years.

“A number of years ago, we did do some rough counting, and there were easily 1,000 people at the park on a weekend day,” he said, adding that the volume of attendees has since remained about the same. “With all the people standing around, I’ve actually seen people hit by a group of running dogs and knocked flat down!”

Hank Lloyd, the Tennis Director and Concessionaire for the Costa Mesa Tennis Courts, had expressed some reservations about the proposed expansion in an e-mail to city staff, but said in a telephone interview he was willing to work with the commission and foundation to reach a fair compromise, adding the tennis courts could be constructed on the other side of the facility.

“I’m going to try to work with [the proposed expansion],” he said. “I’m all for it.”

Those decisions will now be decided between him, the commission, and representatives of the Bark Park Foundation and public.

“On behalf of the Costa Mesa Bark Park Foundation, I’d really like to thank Councilwoman [Linda] Dixon, City Manager Allan Roeder, Peter Naghavi and Donna Theriault, who have worked really, really hard with us to work out this compromise,” foundation president Patricia Allen said. “This is the most heavily used park in all of Costa Mesa, and by expanding this area; now we can begin to do some major maintenance and repairs to both parts of the park.”

“This looks like it will be a good use of existing land,” Mayor Eric Bever agreed.

The Parks and Recreation Commission will now schedule a discussion of the proposal during a future meeting.

CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at [email protected].