“We have done some work on the dog park,” said Parks and Recreation Department Director Danny Foster. “We have done some cutting in the park and laying the trail and took some old fencing down, but nothing else.”
The pet friendly park is located behind the current Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department park house on Magnolia Street.
Foster said the Lincoln Park Board has not decided on signage for the park, along with benches, fencing, and other possible park items.
Foster said he was unsure how large the pet friendly park would be.
“And there is an ordinance that says ‘no dogs in the Lincoln parks,’” he said. “We can’t really do anything until the ordinance is changed.
Issues arose last year after several Lincoln residents were banned from bringing their dogs to any Lincoln park. The residents had been walking their pets at England Park, also known as Blue Eye Trail, because there was no signage prohibiting them from bringing their pets to the walking trail.
The residents approached the City Council, requesting the ordinance be amended so they could walk with their pets in one of the city parks.
The ordinance, adopted in 1989, states that it is “unlawful for any person to bring animals on or upon the premise of any public park within the municipality of the City of Lincoln, Alabama; with handicap exemption.”
The council decided to look into possibly amending Ordinance 89-13, which prohibits more than just animals. Section 1 states, “It shall be unlawful for any person to ride or propel any cycle, motor-driven or otherwise; any skateboard of any coaster wagon, roller coaster, scooter or other instrument of amusement upon any walking trail, tennis court or fields for organized sporting activities in any public park within the municipality of the City of Lincoln, Alabama, with handicap exemption.”
Section 2 further expands the ordinance to make it “unlawful for any person to use any other instrument of amusement, or to be on or upon said walking trails, tennis courts or fields for organized sporting activities, other than pedestrian traffic, with handicap exemption.”
Residents have complained at several council meetings about selective enforcement of the ordinance in vigorously prohibiting dogs but not as aggressively prohibiting bicycles and other wheeled instruments of amusement.
Mayor Lew Watson said the ordinance is outdated and needs re-working. The Park Board has requested the ordinance remain on the books and at a later date possibly be amended to include a designated facility to be ‘pet friendly.’
“The City Council is looking at the ordinance,” Watson said. “We are just not at all satisfied with the current ordinance.”
Although the ordinance has not been amended, in February the council approved $5,000 for a pet friendly park.
Watson said the council is not satisfied with the work that has been done on the new pet friendly park.
“The current dog park is inadequate, and leaves a lot to be desired,” he said.
Watson said the council will reexamine the whole issue (the ordinance and the pet friendly park).
“We approved the money, which has been spent, but we have not seen adequate results,” he said. “I am not satisfied that crushed stone is a suitable walking surface for what the council wants for the park. We want to re-look at it from A to Z—at the whole picture before spending any more money.”
Watson said the council is expected to discuss the ordinance and pet friendly park at an August work session. No date has been set for the work session.
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