New off-leash dog park at West Terrace Park

[KCMax]

New off-leash dog areas are in the works for downtown Kansas City

The Kansas City parks department has raised the money for a 1.5-acre off-leash dog area at the north end of West Terrace Park, on the west bluffs near Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. And a separate fundraising effort is underway to create another more modest off-leash area at Fifth and Locust streets in the River Market.

“It’s creating a system of dog parks to serve the downtown neighborhoods,” said Jimmi Lossing, senior landscape architect with the parks department, who is working on the West Terrace Park project.

[flyingember]

you know what goes together with dogs? kids.

every off leash dog park in the city should be paired with a playground

[taxi]

I regularly go to the OLDP at Penn Valley Park and almost never see any kids there. Urban dog parks do not need playgrounds. And there's a playground in the West Terrace Park already.

They also don't need fancy fences or cupolas. I'm blown away that these parks are costing so much. The one proposed in the River Market will see more use than most KC Parks. They should just put up a chainlink fence and add plenty of trash cans, a little fountain or water feature for the dogs and maybe a few picnic tables. It could be done inexpensively and they can add more shit later. Downtown's dogs are under served and this is way overdue.

Every experience I have had with the Parks Dept. has been a joke. They waste money like nobody's bidness and I would wager that the people doing it never even visit the parks. Roanoke Park "improvements" are a perfect example.

[Midtownkid]

Those little pavilions are great! It's those little details that separate a "town" from a "city"

[moderne]

One of the shade structures looks to be a viewing pavillion. Together they make a dog park look like the entrance to the Disney 9th St. Incline. Just wondering if anyone knows if dog parks actually make the larger surrounding park "safer." i.e. less shady activity. West Terrace is such a wasted and neglected asset.

[flyingember]

Just wondering if anyone knows if dog parks actually make the larger surrounding park "safer." i.e. less shady activity.

any use which brings responsible people outside into an area reduces crime.

the NKC dog park barely opened this year for the prime usable season. there were instantly people in it even at odd hours. I would see people with dogs at 7am in an area which one was lucky to see people outside period.

the same thing happened with the Waterworks Park frisbee golf park. the amount of crime in the park dropped dramatically. it's even more niche and gets enough use to reduce crime.

you want responsible people as many places as possible so that crimes of opportunity are heard and reported. it's hard to break into a place if someone is half a block over and will hear you. it's hard to break into a car with constant foot traffic.

garage to street to garage is a pro-crime environment

[DaveKCMO]

the plan -- as mentioned briefly as a consideration in the 2014 news article above -- will require users to register for key card access. there will be a fee to cover the cost of the key card system.

[brewcrew1000]

I regularly go to the OLDP at Penn Valley Park and almost never see any kids there. Urban dog parks do not need playgrounds. And there's a playground in the West Terrace Park already.

You never see any kids because there is an age limit for kids to be allowed inside the OLDP, i think its 8 or 9

[brewcrew1000]

Every experience I have had with the Parks Dept. has been a joke. They waste money like nobody's bidness and I would wager that the people doing it never even visit the parks. Roanoke Park "improvements" are a perfect example.

I don't understand how Roanoke Park "Improvements" were a perfect example. All of the trails and I think both playgrounds were paid for by private money. I guess I could see all the zig zag sidewalks as a waste if the parks dept did that but I think it has to zig zag because of the slope issue.

[kcjak]

Our neighborhood association says the zig zags were required due to ADA rules - access with no stairs would have meant a hill with too steep of an incline.

[taxi]

Every experience I have had with the Parks Dept. has been a joke. They waste money like nobody's bidness and I would wager that the people doing it never even visit the parks. Roanoke Park "improvements" are a perfect example.

I don't understand how Roanoke Park "Improvements" were a perfect example. All of the trails and I think both playgrounds were paid for by private money. I guess I could see all the zig zag sidewalks as a waste if the parks dept did that but I think it has to zig zag because of the slope issue.

I was referring to "improvements" made to the park about 12 years ago. They tore down some perfectly good swings, only to replace them with a very similar model. They did this at the bottom of the steps on the north side of the park, west side of Roanoke Blvd. Same deal on top of the little hill, west of there on the other side of Wyoming. Because of some kind of new regulations, they had to move them several feet to a place that was way less ideal. They also tore down the area-defining WPA built BBQ structure, because homeless people were using it. Meanwhile, there were 2 or 3 more newer, steel grills within 100'. Then they tore down the very old, very large lilac bushes, because the cops wanted to be able to see into the park while driving by. Often, the cops would just drive right through the park. Within a very short time, they did everything they could to ruin what was a very nice park. I lived one block from there, and those so-called improvements resulted in less neighbors visiting the park.

I think, for the most part, the new improvements are much better.

[droopy]

the plan -- as mentioned briefly as a consideration in the 2014 news article above -- will require users to register for key card access. there will be a fee to cover the cost of the key card system.

Does your update mean you've heard this is moving forward (last post on the thread was almost a year and a half ago)? Any clue on the fee? I'm guessing you would have said what it was if it's set...

[DaveKCMO]

no idea on the fee. i believe it's still moving forward.

[Eon Blue]

Multiple PIAC funding requests have caused the project timeline to be drawn out.

[mgh7676]

The stone stairways are currently being built for the dog park. It is great to see this project moving forward, but I really wish they could have fixed some of the deteriorating stairways that already exist around West Terrace Park as part of the project. One stairway has had a snow fence around it for over a year and is now covered in 5 foot tall weeds...

[smh]

Everyone prepare to apply for your key fob to the park!

[hartliss]

Updated progress pics

[TheLastGentleman]

Wasn't sure where else to post this.











Article about the project from last month. https://cityscenekc.com/west-terrace-pa ... layground/

[TheLastGentleman]

Some pictures from the observation area. Looks like the staircase has been permanently sealed off.

[Eon Blue]

Such a waste, how one of Kessler’s crown jewels was carved up for highways.