Proposal aims to replace Milwaukee County's largest off-leash dog park

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee County Parks is looking to replace a dog park that closed over a year ago. A proposal would allow dog owners to give their input on its design and location. 

"Dog owners really like their dog parks," said District 4 Supervisor Ryan Clancy. "I think that's probably one of the, you know, top three constituent contacts I've had over the last four years."

Clancy is pushing to replace what was the largest off-leash dog park in the county.

"People really liked this one because it had so much space to run around, it was, you know, almost limitless," he said.

'Runway Dog Park' -- located roughly three miles from Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport -- was forced to shut down in 2022.

"It closed because the FAA has some regulations that certain facilities are not to be within such a distance of an airport," added Steven Shea, 8th district supervisor.

Shea and 12th District Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez are co-sponsors of Clancy's proposal to fund a plan and design for a new park.

"I have a dog park in my district and for the people who use it, for them and their dogs, it's extremely important; and you know, it's part of their social lives," Shea said.

There are six county dog parks. Clancy said he hopes a new dog park will be an investment for years to come.

"The north side has, I think, three different dog parks right now in pretty good repair," added Clancy.  "At this point, the south side really just has one and it's often kind of muddy enough that it's closed because they want to preserve the turf on it."

The county board’s finance committee will consider the resolution within a month, and if approved, they will ask locals to weigh in.

"Let us know what you want, and we'll let the experts at parks kind of put that together, determine where it would, where it should be and what it should look like," Clancy said.