Q: Why aren’t pets allowed at Heritage Park?
Amy in short: A city ordinance enacted that regulation shortly after the park was opened, and efforts to undo it have generally stalled.
A bit more: Within a few weeks of the April 2005 opening of Heritage Park, then a 90-acre recreation complex, there were concerns about pets in the park.
“There are too many grassy areas involved with those playgrounds where little kids will be walking, and I’ve realized there are some good pet owners who will pick up after their dogs, but there’s a lot that won’t,” said Simpsonville City Councilwoman Geneva Lawrence at an April 12, 2005, council meeting, according to minutes.
An ordinance disallowing pets, other than service animals, at Heritage Park was unanimously passed on second reading two weeks later, according to meeting minutes. The ordinance does permit pets at other city parks.
“We allowed them when it (Heritage Park) first opened, and then nobody was policing their dogs. Our guys were having to go down there every day and pick up,” Lawrence said this week by phone.
“Since then I have felt on a couple occasions that we should give people another chance,” she said.
The issue has come before Simpsonville’s city council on at least a few occasions in recent years, including in October 2011 when one resident gathered more than 100 signatures on a petition calling for allowing pets in Heritage Park, according to a Greenville News story. But legislators expressed continued concerns about sanitation and safety, and no changes were made.
A 2013 overhaul of City Park included installation of a dog park, dubbed Dog Spot.
A newly proposed animal control ordinance might allow for a policy change to welcome pets back to Heritage Park, but Lawrence said the proposal had been “blocked at every turn” in committee.
Public safety committee meeting minutes show the ordinance was introduced in May, discussed in June and then deferred in July. It did not appear on any other meeting agenda or minutes for the remainder of the year. (Committee meetings have concluded for 2015.)
“It’ll probably never make it,” Lawrence said.
City-owned Heritage Park is currently about 130 acres with walking trails, playgrounds, a miniature train ride, baseball fields, meadow and special events amphitheater, said David Dyrhaug, city administrator.
Got a question? Send it to Q&Amy by emailing me at aburns@greenvillenews.com or calling 864-298-3822. You can find me on Twitter at @QandAmyNews.
