The Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday night continued discussion about a proposed dog park text amendment until September 10. The Friends of the Norfolk Community Dog Park, Inc., have petitioned to have the required acreage for dog parks reduced from 20 to two acres.
A dog park was approved for Westside Road in March 2023 following a long public hearing that elicited hours of testimony and more than 60 letters supporting and opposing the park. Plans for the park fell through, however, and the Friends are now seeking a new location. They argue that it will be easier to identify a new location if only two acres are required.
P&Z Chairman Tom Fahsbender explained that in 2023 the zoning regulations did not mention dog parks. The commission treated the proposal as an unspecified recreational facility, which requires a 20-acre parcel.
Friends’ attorney Timothy Furey said no new site has yet been identified. The reduction of acreage and a dog park definition proposed by the Friends at the request of the P&Z would be “tools in the toolbox” for the commission to use when another site is located, he said.
Commission members mulled over the proposal for about two hours and heard only support for the text amendment from persons attending the meeting. Eleven letters supporting a park were read into the record.
It was noted that, while 20 acres were required, the actual facility proposed in 2023 would have used only 1.86 acres. Areas of concern for commission members were setback requirements, noise levels and possible exclusionary language that member Jordan Stern argued would prevent visitors with no dogs from coming onsite.
Furey argued that because a special permit is needed for the facility, the commission would have the power to set standards and conditions. Stern disagreed, saying the regulations for the underlying zone would prevail but Fahsbender noted that the special permit regulations give the commission just such powers.
Unable to reach a conclusion about the issues at hand, the commission members agreed to take a month to consider the matter.