Taylorsville hears earful on Millrace dog park

TAYLORSVILLE — The City Council wants to do something to clean up the overused Millrace Off-Leash Dog Park, and members think the park's users are their No. 1 resource.

The council listened to public testimony from a host of resident and non-resident dog owners this past week, and their conclusion: A lot needs to be done.

For starters, the park's popular pond has been emptied and is out of service because it became too messy, clogged with dog hair and waste. The council learned that the contractor who built the park at 1200 W. 5400 South set the pond to drain into the nearby Jordan River, which is illegal. It is estimated it would cost about $80,000 to connect the pond to sewer lines. City staff are researching whether that burden can fall on the engineer who designed the pond or the contractor who built it.

Another major problem at the park is the grass. The park was planted with the same bluegrass blend that most municipal parks use, but because of the park's intense use — and the fact that dogs are, by nature, intense users — much of the grass is torn up, and any rain or watering leaves muddy, messy puddles.

But the park's users told the council they will use the park whether it's muddy or grassy, rainy or sunny or snowy — just leave the park open, they begged. Ideas of replacing the grass with a hardier variety, fine gravel or bark were passed around.

The council took no action but did decide to set up a task force of the park's users to talk out the problems, weigh the proposed solutions, come up with new ideas and present them to the council periodically.

And many solutions have already been proposed.

The council has talked about levying a fee for park use, about $5 for Taylorsville residents, but heftier — maybe significantly so — for non-residents. Such a fee, Councilman Russ Wall said, would be as much about encouraging nearby cities to build their own parks so their residents wouldn't have to pay as it would be about raising money.

Already, the fee proposal has West Jordan residents pushing for their own dog park, and the City Council there has been receptive so far.

Some dog park users told Taylorsville's council they would be willing to pay a reasonable fee to use the park they love. One Salt Lake City woman said she travels to Taylorsville to use the park despite living a mile from a Salt Lake park, and that a fee of $50 or so would be acceptable.

But other dog owners, especially Taylorsville residents, said they were nervous about the message a non-resident fee would send to the city's neighbors.

Park users also expressed concern about proposals to limit the number of dogs per adult allowed in the park and said the county, which maintains the park at the city's expense, has been neglecting needed repairs to gates and fences.

---

E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com