The City of Calgary, in partnership with the Northern Hills Community Association and Creating Coventry, is looking for feedback on the proposal to use provincial land as a dog friendly, multi-use area for the local community to enjoy. The space is a strip of land between the northern edge of Coventry Hills and Stoney Trail (See Map)

The vision is that this space would be dog friendly (i.e off leash is available) however not an exclusive area for dog users. We have also heard that this space could also be a place for local art to be displayed and an area for people to just get out and walk.

New infrastructure would be minimal but would include garbage cans and potentially benches. Fencing around the area is not something that would be included in this project and the existing wildlife fence would be the boundary. Formal Parking would not be provided for this site.

The area proposed is a provincial utility corridor and we would be seeking permission to use it for as long as possible. It would still be provincial land, but the City would enter into an agreement to maintain the space and make it accessible for residents to use. Currently the land is not accessible.

We see this as a space that the residents of Coventry Hills will mostly benefit from. Due to limited parking availability, we wish to encourage this area to be seen as a local space for people to visit without using a motor vehicle.

There is an existing “ranch style” wildlife fence to separate Stoney trail from this space but it is not the typical chain-link. Some gates would be installed to limit the encroachment onto provincial land that there is no permission to access. Garbage cans will be installed where they can be serviced easily.

There may also be scope to increase the size of the available space further West along the corridor. At this time, we are only looking at the space shown on the map.

Concerns that we wish to mitigate:

• Parking – People will invariably drive to parks although this is intended to be a local space for the community to walk/bike to. There are some limited parking opportunities beside Colville park (COV101).
• Garbage – There will be Garbage Cans installed by the entrances. We have a Bylaw to enforce, however to promote better stewardship, Community support/advocacy is best. We are looking at bin bags/poop bag dispensers to be placed in conjunction with community supported partnership for maintaining supply.
• Noise – the existing traffic on Stoney Trail will offset any noise concerns.
• Smell - garbage bins will be emptied on a regular basis to manage smell concerns.
• Enforcement – we have Bylaws that can be enforced; however, Community Support/Vigilance will be the best approach. Provision of dedicated space often leads to more responsible pet ownership practices.
• Privacy – adjacent backyard fences are 6ft solid panels that provide privacy.

You can view the What We Heard Report here.

From the What We Heard Report posted on this page Parks has determined the following:

• Evenly mixed support for and against an Off-Leash Area.
• Even less people would be interested in using this space if not an Off-Leash Area.
• Will advise Parks management that there has NOT been a favourable/ negative outcome but that we need to go back to the drawing board

Key Themes

Community clean up	Enough waste bins
Poop bags	Off leash ambassadors
signage	Bylaw enforcement
Parking concerns	Noise
Smell	Better Fence
Concern in Crime / Antisocial	Access

Next Steps will include:

• Meet with Community Association to discuss what we heard report.

• Discuss comments and ways to mitigate main concerns. Current engagement result does not allow us to pursue the current proposal with confidence.
• Parks and Community to revise any plans or proposals.
• Discuss opportunities for added involvement by Community – Volunteers, etc.
• More engagement will be needed to gain feedback from the community. Explore possibility for further engagement to address some of the concerns identified.
• Discuss if community association wishes to proceed – Support with board motion.

• Communicate revised plans on ENGAGE. Communicate changes and reasons behind those decisions.

Project Update

The “What We Heard Report” indicates a close split as to whether a new Off-Leash Area would be welcome or not. As such, the City has decided to suspend moving forward plans to construct Off-Leash Area. The City can review this proposal again when more engagement is done within the community and changes made to the designs that mitigate concerns.