It’s not often that dogs are invited to official City announcements, but today, they were the stars of the show.

A ‘Paw Party’ was held on Saturday, October 5 to mark the official completion of the Chestermere off-leash area redevelopment project. The City’s Mayor and Council were joined by community members and their four-legged friends to celebrate the end of the project and declare October 5th as ‘Chestermere Dog Day.’

“The celebration gave us a ‘paw-sitive’ opportunity to celebrate this area with our community members,” laughs Mayor Marshall Chalmers. “We are excited to announce the completion of this amazing multi-use space where pedestrians, cyclists and our furry friends can enjoy our beautiful lakeside City together.”

In 2016, the Parks and Recreation Division presented an off-leash area and dog park management study to Council. Then, a survey and interactive open house were conducted to gain feedback from the public.

Residents said that they loved the beauty and natural environment but requested improvements to the off-leash space (i.e.: adding bags, garbage cans, signage and benches). Suggestions were made for the inclusion of natural and physical barriers to more clearly mark areas for different uses in the park.

In fall of 2018 construction began and continued seasonally until this spring.

The redevelopment project included:

• The installation of a secondary gravel pathway to help distinguish off-leash users from pedestrians/cyclists.

• Addressing the existing drainage issues in the park, specifically in areas where stormwater pooled on the pathway.

• The installation of sodded berms in pinch points between the pedestrian pathway and active dog play areas.

“Crews also installed new trees and native grasses, split rail fencing, new picnic tables and garbage cans, and our new shade sail at the pebble dog beach,” says Kathy Russell, the City’s Director of Community Operations. “A huge thank you goes to our Parks staff who worked very closely with our contractors to complete this project!”

The City would also like to thank Landscape architect, Katelyn Junkin of Ground Cubed Landscape Architects and Contractor Rob Muir of Wilco Construction for their invaluable contribution to the park redevelopment project.

To learn more about the off-lease area and the redevelopment project visit chestermere.ca/offleash.