Vancouver dog owners rally against school’s closure of field to public

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For Trina Atchison, finding a spot where her dogs can play off-leash has proved difficult since the Vancouver school district closed off access to a field near her home three months ago.

The 37-year-old, who lives with cystic fibrosis, had for years relied on short walks to Sir Charles Tupper Secondary’s north field to let her canines Riley and Sushi socialize and exercise.

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“As someone with a physical disability, I can’t go on a jog with my dogs,” she said. “Having somewhere within walking distance where I could safely oversee their playtime was essential.”

But, in January, Atchison and other residents in Mount Pleasant were barred from accessing the grass area and its surrounding gravel track. While signs posted around the school indicate leashed dogs are allowed on the premises after 5 p.m., gates enclosing the field were secured with metal chains.

Now, Atchison and a group of more than two dozen dog owners in the neighbourhood have banded together to demand answers from the school board. So far, the group has sent a flurry of emails in search of answers but has received no response.

“We just want to know what the plan is for this field and why after all these years it is now being closed for community use,” said resident Tanya Ebach, 44.

Ebach and other local dog owners have concerns about the use of school district funds going toward additional fencing to secure the field from dogs in the community, instead of educational purposes.

They pointed out that the school board’s long-term facilities plan states it should consider school property for alternative community uses where possible, acknowledging that “all taxpayers contribute to the cost of constructing and maintaining local facilities through provincial taxation.”

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But on Friday, school board spokesperson Jiana Chow said that “the district reserves the right to cancel the use of any school facility or grounds” in the event of a violation of extending its facilities, as a privilege, for community use.

Chow said the district decided to limit access to the field “to preserve the field’s condition, which had been increasingly compromised by extensive damage due to dogs digging holes.”

“This activity not only posed a safety risk to students and staff as they use the area for physical and outdoor education, but also conflicted with the district’s policies on facility use, which states access is granted provided that public use of school buildings and grounds does not interfere with regular curricular and extra-curricular programming,” Chow said in an email.

Since its closure, some locals have resorted to climbing the school’s fences to access the field, with the school board reporting “an uptick in vandalism to the fences, resulting in increased use of district resources to make the necessary repairs,” Chow added Friday.

For Ebach, the unsanctioned field was the closest enclosed off-leash area she could find to bring her dog, Memphis. It’s still a two-kilometre walk from their home near Main and East 11th streets.

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“There is nowhere else nearby for dogs in Mount Pleasant,” Ebach said.

In 2017, the city’s people, parks and dogs strategy — which has a stated aim of providing off-leash areas within a 15-minute walk of most residents — identified Mount Pleasant as the most underserved neighbourhood in Vancouver for an off-leash dog area.

Two new off-leash areas are planned for Vancouver, according to the city. They’re to be in parks west of Cambie Street — at Heather Park in the South Cambie neighbourhood and Granville Park in Fairview.

Resident Angie Cheung has concerns that as Mount Pleasant becomes more densely populated within the next few years, the lack of off-leash spaces for dogs in the neighbourhood will worsen.

“Multiple residences are being built along Fraser Street and 12th, 13th and 14th streets have now all been zoned for highrises. Where will all their dogs go?” questioned the 41-year-old.

Ebach and Cheung agreed that they were most upset that the school district or its board never consulted the community on its decision to close public access to the field.

“We were never given even the chance to come up with possible solutions because the school board refused to even engage with us in conversation,” said Cheung.

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One resident who noticed an uptick in dog waste in the field had been bringing a garbage can to the field before its closure, disposing of dog waste each evening.

Cheung had been taking her Shiba Inu August to the field for more than a year. She said meeting regularly with other dog owners in the field improved her life.

“All of us would exchange messages after our workdays to bring our dogs to the field at the same time. I felt so lucky to find a community that helped me train and look after my first dog.”

sgrochowski@postmedia.com

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