Newcastle City Council proposes to establish four fenced dog parks under a strategy to go on public exhibition.
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The Dogs in Open Spaces strategy includes new fenced, off-leash areas at Lambton Park and Adamstown’s O’Connell Reserve and new unfenced areas at Jesmond’s Mayo Street Reserve, Brickworks Park at Elermore Vale, Warabrook Wetlands and the Bull Street reserve at Mayfield.
The strategy proposes removing leash-free areas at King Edward Park and Braye Park, North Lambton.
A report to councillors on Tuesday night said the city’s 17 leash-free areas were established 16 years ago and had not been reviewed since.
“To meet the current expectations of dog owners there is a need to upgrade existing off-leash areas and identify opportunities to provide new facilities within the community,” it said.
“Purpose-built dog parks provide the opportunity for spaces to be formalised for this activity.
“Feedback received from dog owners during the on-site consultation indicated a preference for greater access to beaches, particularly during the cooler months and outside key usage times.”
The plan suggests Stockton Beach could become a year-round off-leash area at certain times of the day, and existing leash-free areas at the Carrington foreshore, Acacia Avenue Reserve, Waratah, and Maryland Drive could be fenced.
It also proposes changes to off-leash areas at Dixon Park, Wallsend’s Upper Reserve, Adamstown’s West End Park, Stockton’s Rawson Reserve and Ballast Ground, Stockton, to reduce their impact on other park users.
Lake Macquarie City Council opened its first fenced dog park last week on 10,000 square metres of land at Speers Point Park and is planning another at Croudace Bay’s Thomas H Halton Park.
The Speers Point park includes dog agility stations, a picnic table, seating and water fountains for dogs and their owners.
Corridor subdivision request
Newcastle council has received a second subdivision application from Hunter Development Corporation to clear the way for development and open space on part of the former rail corridor.
The council is expected to decide on June 19 whether to approve an earlier application to divide three existing lots west of Merewether Street into seven to accommodate the University of Newcastle’s proposed new inner-city campus, a plaza on the former Civic Station site and an affordable housing project.
Last week the council received an application to create separate lots east of Merewether Street, including three for redevelopment, two for public recreation and one for a tourism precinct at Newcastle Station.
The Herald reported last week that HDC was poised to sell two of the redevelopment sites in this area, one narrow block on the corridor and another roughly square lot on Hunter Street at its junction with Darby Street.
The third redevelopment site in the latest subdivision application is another narrow lot of about 4000 square metres from Argyle Street to Brown Street with a height limit of 14 metres.
