Park Board OKs Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park fencing plan to restrict access

The rambling forest trails and Mississippi River beaches that most people consider part of the Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park are poised to shrink next year as the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the National Park Service (NPS) install fencing meant to formalize its legal boundaries.

The proposal, which would sever the dog park from a large segment of the beaches where dogs currently play, has polarized park users ahead of this week's Park Board (MPRB) meeting, when commissioners approved it without a public hearing.

Park Board President Meg Forney and Commissioners Steffanie Musich, Becka Thompson, Cathy Abene, Elizabeth Shaffer and Charles Rucker voted yes over emotional constituent testimonies. Commissioners Tom Olsen, Becky Alper and Billy Menz voted no.

Located in Minnehaha Regional Park along the Minneapolis side of the river, the sprawling dog park is the largest in the city and the only one on a waterfront. It's also the only Minneapolis dog park that isn't completely fenced in. As a result, some dogs over the years have found their way out through the woods and into traffic. Many dog owners approve of finally building a fence that would safely contain their pets.

Others are raising alarms because the project map shows that the proposed fence would cut off large swaths of land that people have considered part of the dog park for decades.

"I don't want to diminish the fact that they are doing a lot of improvements to the actual dog park property," said park user Arik Van Asten. "But they are drastically changing the use of the overall space."

Musich, whose district includes the Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park, said the fencing project is largely being undertaken at the request of NPS, which manages certain land along the Mississippi River.

"Installation of fencing in the dog park area is an effort to be good neighbors to adjacent property owners who have different leash rules and prevent off-leash dogs from entering their property," Musich said in a statement Monday. "MPRB does not own or manage the land outside where the fencing is being proposed, and has been requested to better demarcate the rules and manage access."

On Tuesday, park officials acknowledged that the Park Board is also proposing to fence off from dog use a large stretch of riverfront that it owns.

Legal boundaries vs. actual use

The land surrounding the Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park is a jumble of jurisdictions.

Contrary to popular use, the actual area of the dog park is contained to a 6.6-acre triangular chunk in the southeast corner of the total area where park users currently let their dogs roam off-leash. NPS owns or manages some land along the river, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs owns adjacent land to the west and the Minnesota Historical Society controls the land to the south, where a pointy beach now serves as a popular rumble zone for dogs

Those other landowners have asked the Park Board to erect a fence clearly defining the boundaries between their land and Minneapolis parkland, with NPS offering a federal grant to fund the project, said Park Board project manager Carol HejlStone. That fence would restrict dogs' access to the river to a smaller stretch of beach, and reduce off-leash dog access to some woods, too. Knowing this would upset members of the public, the Park Board proposed expanding the formal boundaries of the dog park to just under 17 acres of Minnehaha Regional Park land over which it has jurisdiction, she said.

In short, while the dog park's acreage will be legally expanded from 6.6 to 17, the total area where off-leash dogs have had access to for more than 35 years will be constricted in practice.

"We understand that dog park users would be upset with the addition of a fence, and so what we were wanting to do is formalize the rest of the MPRB-owned area as off-leash space, which is how it's been used through time," said HejlStone on Monday. "But we are intending to cut off access to land that is not owned and maintained by MPRB because those landowners don't want off-leash dogs on their property."

On Tuesday, NPS Planning Program Manager Forest Eidbo clarified that the National Park Service does not own a long stretch of riverfront north of the Park Board's proposed fence. Eidbo said NPS manages only the territory around Mni Owe Sni, or Coldwater Spring, a Dakota heritage site in the historic Fort Snelling territory about 1,400 feet inland from the south point of the dog park.

In response to NPS' statement, fencing project manager HejlStone on Tuesday acknowledged that the fence would also cut off a large section of Park Board-owned riverfront property. While Park Board maps do not label it as such, HejlStone called the area a "prairie remnant" that the Park Board wants to protect. "It is a managed natural area and is negatively impacted when off-leash dogs enter the area," she said.

Veterans Affairs spokesperson Melanie Nelson said the VA had "no dog in the fight."

A Change.org petition to "Save Minnehaha Dog Park" is quickly gaining steam, with more than 1,300 signatures gathered in five days.

"For 30-plus years people have had access to this and the beach, and we're talking generations of dog owners and dogs," said petition organizer Michelle Garens. "It feels really not very transparent, like they were kind of doing the bare minimum of posting, and it wasn't really clear what was being given up. ... We really haven't heard from those landowners or had an opportunity to express our point of view."

Park officials had determined earlier that a minimal amount of public engagement would be required because it's a decision based on "technical, operational or safety constraints only," over a project thought to "not result in a change in the type, location or extent of the current facility or service."

If approved, the fencing project would be scheduled for completion this fall at an estimated cost of $70,000. About $55,000 of it is coming from a NPS grant. While some dog park users have suggested that the fence money be spent on other social priorities like housing support and food security, federal park funds and Minneapolis Park Board funds are designated for park improvements.

Paul Herwig, who has brought his dogs to the Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park multiple times a week for about 25 years, described its culture as one that is especially respectful, with the grounds kept clean by volunteers.

"I just feel like bringing fencing in and cordoning off stuff is just a real slap in the face," he said. "It says to me that the people involved in making this decision are really unaware of that culture, and how valuable it is to the very large group of residents who use it."