Hofbauer Persuades City Staff, Council to
Come Through with Long Awaited Amenity!

On Steve Hofbauer's To-DO list has been the addition of Off-Leash Dog Parks to the city of Palmdale's amenities to its residents.

When I first pushed for this, back in my Planning Commission days, the original plan was to have one large dog park at Marie Kerr Park, out around the outfield of the softball diamonds. In retrospect, drawing from my own experience owning two crazy golden retrievers, maybe its best we NOT have these adjacent to the ball fields!

Having two parks, east and west, will help reduce crowding at either one. The master plan is to have them divided into large and small breed areas.

The Massarri Park dog park will be first, as the infrastructure is more complete. Hillside Park, on the city's far west side, has planned improvements for the entire facility, and the dog park will be included. In the mean-time, westside residents will have to continue poaching on Lancaster's site at 30th and M.

At the June 6th Council Meeting, an ordinance was passed to allow off-leash use at designated sites.

Off-leash dog areas set for 2 Palmdale Parks
BY JIM SKEEN, Staff Writer
LA Daily News Article Last Updated:06/06/2007 08:22:35 PM PDT

PALMDALE - Pet owners are about to get two off-leash dog areas, one on each side of the city, officials said Monday. Plans are in the works to establish off-leash dog areas at Domenic Massari Park on the east side and Hillside Park on the west side.

The first will be a 1.5-acre area at Domenic Massari at Russ Avenue and 55th Street East. "This is something we've had on our radar for a while," said Mayor Jim Ledford. "It's great."

City officials hope to be able to put the first part of the Domenic Massari off-leash area out for bids in a few weeks. That work is expected to cost about $50,000, said Russ Bird, the city's parks and recreation director. "Eventually it will have a large-dog area and a small-dog area," Bird said. "Initially, it will be an all-dog area." The second phase will also cost about $50,000.

No timetable is set for that work. Plans for the Hillside Park area have not yet been finalized. Both facilities will be roughly comparable, city officials said.

Antelope Valley pet owners had been without an off-leash area until November, when Lancaster opened one at Hull Park at 30th Street West and Avenue M. The area, roughly an acre, includes a water fountain with spigots for both humans and dogs, a picnic table and a few well-placed trash cans with pooper scoopers.

Before that area's opening, dog owners had to travel to the Sepulveda Basin Dog Park in Encino to enjoy an off-leash park.