Adding a dog play area?

Started by DB8 • 8 replies • 6218 views

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DB8 (Washington)
Posts: 15

Posted:

Hello, do any of you have experience having an enclosed dog play area in your common area? I am doing some research as to what is involved in such an amenity. What kind of sanitation and maintenance (and subsequent expenses) might be involved? What kind of liability waiver or protection or signage do you have? What experience with this kind of amenity do you have to share please? We are imagining something very small, to primarily allow some play and dog socializing.

Thanks very much.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

It really depends on your HOA's set up and culture. What works for one may not work for another. Found the biggest issue is location and clean up. You have to remember the dogs will "poo". Which causes many issues and expenses. Offering dog clean up bags and receptacles is an expense. Plus people/dogs drag the feces on their feet. So if you have a pool area, not a good idea to combine both near each other.

We put down dog/cat repellent down in an area because people were using it for their dogs. It was close to the pool. Which made it a health issue. However, I put a temporary fence and marked it with notifications of the repellant. Which washes away in the rain and lasts just a few days. Ended up with a bunch of complaints because of the "smell" bothered the people nearby the area. So be prepared to receive complaints no matter what you try to do.

Former HOA President

GeorgeS21 (Florida)
Posts: 3,808

Posted:

A great idea, but as a non dog owner, I would absolutely want the dog owners to pay for the maintenance and whatever capital expenditures there are.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

You should probably duplicate signage at any dog park.

Concerning liabilities by simply having the area, you might want to check with your attorney or insurance agent.

Here is some info:

We’re considering adding a dog park in our City. What do we need to know?

Risk Management: Off-Leash Dog Parks

dog park rules sign

5 Health Risks Lurking at the Dog Park

Dog Parks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from The Association of Professional Dog Trainers

Hope this helps.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

A new high rise in my urban 'hood--hasn't opened yet-- has an off-leash dog area. If you give me your email addy, I'll send you its name & contact info.

PatJ1 (North Carolina)
Posts: 568

Posted:

We added a dog park a couple of years ago by being awarded a Neighborhood Matching Grant given out by our city. We used an area that previously contained tennis courts that were removed when they were impossible and expensive to maintain.

We located the dog park in the higher end of the area for drainage. It’s 20’ X 80’ with 2 gates. One gate is large enough for our landscaper to fit a mower through. We chose a 4’ high fence, should have made it 5’ to keep people from jumping over it, but they are usually caught and asked to leave. We also had it include puppy pickets. We installed a poop station at one of the gates. It contains a bench and some jumps and agility weaves that were donated.

It is locked with a changeable code lock. The area is accessed by registration. By registering, dog owners agree to clean up, have their dogs vaccinated, and ask permission if someone is already using the park before entering. Violations result in changing the code to deny access. This may not work for everyone as you will need a committed volunteer to oversee this part.

So far, our only expense has been for a bag of grass seed that we throw out once and a while on bare spots.

Our community was very supportive of the project. However, we have been disappointed in the number of people who have registered. One thing’s for sure. It’s listed, with a picture, as an amenity on every real estate listing we’ve seen.

KellyM3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2,239

Posted:

What kind of sanitation and maintenance (and subsequent expenses) might be involved?

We supply a dog waste station w/ plastic bags for use by the owners.

The dog waste station is checked and emptied by as part of our groundskeeping budget

We converted our tennis courts due to disrepair, so we installed a wide gate for entrance

We have tree companies, when in the area and as-needed, to dump their fresh shredded tree chips on our property and hire the groundskeeper to haul it in and spread it as an add-on fee about every 16-18 months.

What kind of liability waiver or protection or signage do you have?

We carry required signage, including rules as dictated by our municipality (which has public dog parks). As it's a fenced area w/ clear rules, there was zero effect on our property insurance policy.

What experience with this kind of amenity do you have to share please?

The dog park is inherently a niche amenity but an improvement over our dilapidated tennis courts. Our maintenance fees run approximately $500-$700 per year. It's been a positive experience as many of our homes are condos/townhomes w/ no backyards. Our pet owners have been very responsible.

If you need to hire a "pooper scooper" company, expect a $20 per week budget.

The culture of your community will dictate the value of creating off-leash space. Even for non-pet owners, an exercise area would create, in part, calmer pet behavior in the buildings.

GenoS (Florida)
Posts: 4,276

Posted:

We were able to avoid this a few years ago. We have lots of dog owners who wanted to convert one of our unused tennis courts into a "dog park" type enclosure. The county informed us that doing this would require the permission of every homeowner within 300 ft of the site which would include about 6 homes outside of the HOA. The drainage in the area would be insufficient because it's flat flat flat ground with little grading or slope towards the nearest storm drain. There were HOA homeowner concerns with noise and smell (even though I've read those are not as big a problem as they're made out to be). No grassy area in Florida stays that way with dogs running around on it; it would have been a giant mud pit for 6 months out of the year. And finally, our research showed that the biggest factor in successful dog parks everywhere is ENFORCEMENT of the rules. We already have an enforcement problem in the HOA in general and if voluntary compliance with the rules wasn't forthcoming from dog owners then the board would be forced to take on additional work regarding complaints and enforcement. For a board that already seeks to do as little as possible, we figured this would be more trouble than it was worth.

If we had some addtional property away from the homes and larger than a tennis court then it might have been a different story.