By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
At the Feb. 5 meeting of the South Padre Island [SPI] City Council, council member Reese Langston provided a design plan for a proposed dog park, neighboring the pickleball courts at 610 Padre Boulevard, in light
of an ad hoc committee that has been advocating for such an area for several years now.
The park would be 40 ft wide and 90 ft long, with a shade structure, and would also neighbor the new SPI museum, currently undergoing construction. The concept includes breaking the park up into two sections: a
40 by 55 ft large dog area and a 35 by 35 ft small dog area. According to Langston, the division of the area to separate larger and smaller dogs was a key item requested by the ad hoc committee.
Langston said the crux of this dog park journey has been finding land, and her solution was to utilize a lot already owned by the city. The area has pre-existing restrooms and 20 parking spaces. Langston said they
would also be looking into adding 20 new parking spaces across the street in the median and mentioned that the Isla Grand provides excess overflow parking.
“The good news about this plan is that it can happen fast,” said Langston. “We don’t have to lay any infrastructure. It’s already there. We just have to build the park.”
Following this, Mayor Patrick McNulty discussed building additional pickleball courts in alternate locations. He then made a motion to approve Langston’s conceptual design, and after a second by Langston and
further discussion, it passed unanimously. McNulty authorized public works to begin putting together a budget for the project.
Council member Kerry Schwartz brought up the maintenance portion of the budget, and alleged that advocates for the park told him they volunteered to “make sure the park was taken care of.” Jon Wilson, Assistant Public Works Director said his crew already performs maintenance duties for the pickleball courts and would be able to do the same for the dog park.
“We’ll have to depend on those responsible dog owners to make sure that they pick up after their animals, because if it becomes a problem then I guess it can become a pickleball court real quick,” said McNulty.
Laurie Coker, Chairperson for the SPI Parks and Recreation Committee and a member of the ad hoc dog park committee took to Facebook to announce the proposed location of the park in the “SPI Dog Park –
Citizen Advocates” group, which has over one hundred members. She expressed displeasure with the park’s size, stating she feared it wouldn’t be “much more than a potty spot.” Several commenters agreed with her,
including Mickey Tamayo, who stated “Dogs need plenty of space to run and play, and if this is all there is, a three-dog limit might be necessary,” and Geraldine Fultz who alleged “A ‘too small’ park might lead to
dog aggression… I probably wouldn’t take my small dog to such a small park.” On the other hand, some, like Judy Affek called it “a good place to start.”
Coker later drafted a letter to the City formally expressing her concerns with the proposed park. At the Tuesday, Feb. 18 meeting of the SPI city council, Coker addressed the commission during public comments.
According to Coker, when SPI citizens first approached the parks committee desiring a dog park, they created the citizens advocate group, as advised by the city council, and then worked with official City entities to develop a business plan she described as “thorough and thoughtful.” The plan included recommendations for the minimum property size.
“The City Council moved forward with its proposal without considering the inputs of its constituents,” said Coker. “Our citizens deserve a city council that values their input, especially regarding community-driven
initiatives.”
Two pickleball players also spoke during the public comments portion, agreeing with Coker on their displeasure regarding the park’s proposed location. They shared their belief that they needed an additional
pickleball court in the location due to overcrowding and worry that the playing of pickleball would stress dogs and could lead to human injury. One speaker shared that an incident had occurred where a pickleball
player had been bitten by a dog, allegedly resulting in surgery. They also shared concerns over the presence of dog feces at the courts.
Council member Joe Ricco responded, saying “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow, because stuff almost never happens…I know there is some strong opinions on that park there, but we can start in one spot, get something going, try it out, learn a lot, and if there’s a need and a true desire, and it’s getting used, maybe we can look for the funds for something spectacular.”
In addition, McNulty alleged that public discussion of the park hinders the City’s ability to purchase land due to rising competition.
“There’s things we can’t discuss with the public,” Schwartz added. “We looked at three other properties and lost them because it got leaked out.”
On Wednesday, Feb. 19, the Parks and Recreation Committee further discussed the conceptual plans and expressed gratitude to the city council for their efforts but cemented their belief that the area was too small.
They unanimously recommended the city council wait on the dog park until a larger area was found.
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