Idaho Falls City Council approves new dog park

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Dog owners in the Idaho Falls community may soon have another place to take their furry friends to run free. On May 25, the Idaho Falls City Council approved the proposal to construct a 43,000 square-foot public gated dog park.

It comes with the construction of the Caribou Crossing Townhomes off of Easy Street behind WinCo Foods.

Originally, the developers planned on building a private pergola or gazebo on the townhome property. After talking with Idaho Falls Community Development Services and Parks and Recreation, the developer suggested building the dog park on city-owned land, rather than build the pergola.

In the council meeting, Kerry Beutler, the Idaho Falls Assistant Planning Director, said they need to have a minimum amount of common space and at least one amenity to meet the requirements of the Planned Unit Development.

Behind the Caribou Crossing Townhomes is city owned land with a sub station and a storm pond. The dog park would sit on the south end of the storm pond.

Beutler said the gated park would be split into two allowing a space for big dogs and one for smaller dogs. It would also have a sidewalk around and leading up to the entrance. There would be no parking lot, only street parking.

They feel building the dog park will best serve east side Idaho Falls residents as a whole, rather than just a small space for one development.

Right now, Idaho Falls only has one public dog park, the Snake River Animal Park, located on the far northwest side of the city.

Councilman Jim Francis was not convinced the dog park would be the best fit. In the May 25 meeting he said, "My problem with the dog park is it very specifically is a limited use, and I’m not sure I’m ready to classify that as a neighborhood park."

Idaho Falls Parks and Recreation Director PJ Holm said, "I think that a lot of folks will look at a dog park and say, 'Well this is only for... dog owners,' which I think is true. But so is a pickleball court is only for pickleball players, a baseball field is only for baseball players, a playground, which you find in every neighborhood park nearly, is only for people with kids in the household. And so I think that, you gotta see... a dog park as an amenity that has a very wide use of users in our community that maybe get overlooked."

Council President Michelle Ziel-Dingman said, "I think that, and I've always thought this, that this small, open space with a pergola is a very weak amenity. So I (was) never thrilled about it, I'm never excited about it. I've lived in townhome developments and I've seen these things go highly unused." She also said, "Idaho is the largest dog ownership state in the country with 58.3% of Idahoans owning dogs."

The city council voted four to one for the approval to build the dog park.