Dog Park Fees Remain the Same for 2012-13

Love the Birmingham dog park? Prepare to pay the same rates to use the park as last year, including a $200 yearly fee for non-residents.

At the Monday night city commission meeting, commissioners approved a resolution maintaining the current rates at the dog park, located at the , for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

Birmingham opened the nearly one-acre dog park at Lincoln Hills in late November 2010 after years of negotation between the city and residents. The dog park at the closed in 2004 after a court ruling said the park didn’t meet the deed restrictions for the property.

Currently, a yearly pass for Birmingham residents costs $50 (with proof of residency) while it's $200 for non-residents. .

Also at the Monday night meeting, commissioners decided to eliminate selling multiple key fobs per yearly pass. Dog park passholders receive one key fob upon purchasing their pass and use the device to enter the park.

In March 2011, the city commission approved the sale of additional key fobs for $10 each. However, many now believe that system is being abused.

"I think people were buying them for $10 and then passing them on to non-residents," said Birmingham's (DPS) director Lauren Wood Monday.

Dog park fees to be reassessed next year

In total, DPS sold 240 dog park passes — 162 to Birmingham residents and 78 to non-residents. Wood said the dog park brought in $24,000 in revenue since last year while $14,000 has been spent on maintenance.

"This number reflects well based on the community population and size of the park area according to our benchmarking efforts," a report on the dog park submitted by Wood to the commission reads.

Originally, non-residents fees were recommended to be $100, however commissioners were eager to up the cost to keep the number of dogs at the park under control. Only 10 dogs are allowed in the park at one time.

"We didn't build this (park) for non-residents," said City Commissioner Tom McDaniel Monday night. "We built it for residents with tax payer money."

Wood said the city might see a drop in the number of non-resident passes sold this year, however the city's Parks and Recreation Board was eager to keep the fees the same so they had another year to evaluate the numbers.

"Is $200 steep? Yes," Wood said. "Maybe we will adjust the non-resident rate. At the very least, (we want to) hold this the way it is and then see where we are."

City concerned with dog park maintenance

Wood reported that in their discussion of the dog park, the Parks and Recreation board also noted the high costs of maintenance as well as the difficulty of maintaining a lush, healthy lawn.

According to Wood, the park oftentimes has to shut down completely or close half the park so that the lawn can "rest."

"Staff has found that users of the park would rather have the park open than closed for a resting period," the report reads. "(And) the size of the park does not allow staff to close half of the area for repairs. The dogs do not have enough room, and the more concentrated use on one side will only contribute to the closing of that side once the repairs have been made to the other."

Wood said staff is exploring the possibility of removing some of the grass and laying down wood chips or artificial turf instead. Those options, however, will come with large capital costs.

"I don't want this to become a very costly effort," she said. "But it's a great asset for the community."

Annual dog park passes may be purchased and renewed from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at the and DPS offices on Eton. The city accepts only cash and checks.