By Ashley Wiebe

Staff to compile options for Kin Coulee off-leash area

Aug 20, 2018 | 9:52 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — City staff will need to come up with more options when it comes to how to best protect the Saamis Archeological Site while keeping dog owners who frequent the off-leash area of Kin Coulee Park happy.

Artifacts and history of First Nations are buried just beneath the surface and city staff say the area needs to be preserved and protected.

The city was looking at scaling back the off-leash area to a four-acre fenced in location in the middle of the site for dog owners. It would come at a cost of $100,000 from the parks and recreation budget.

“Putting up a fence was the easiest and quickest way to deal with an emergency issue, essentially,” CAO Merete Heggelund told council.

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Residents immediately began an online petition against the plan. A guestbook at Kin Coulee also asks for signatures of dog owners who frequent the site.

“They’re telling me ‘hands off our dog park’,” said councillor Kris Samraj. “So I think we’ve definetly gotten that message loud and clear.”

The original complaint was made by a citizen who went to the province about the artifacts which have been discovered.

“If it was your ancestors that had artifacts there, or perhaps even bones or something like that, you wouldn’t want dogs racing all over it or digging stuff up and I think that’s just out of respect,” said Mayor Ted Clugston.

Many councillors chimed in on the issue of fencing off an area for dog owners, saying they were against the idea.

Councillor Kris Samraj said he’s not convinced the area can’t be maintained while allowing dogs to continue using the area.

Councillor Julie Friesen said she too has heard from people who use the park and suggested the areas which require restoration be fenced off instead of fencing off an area for the dogs.

“On the one hand, they’re enjoying the space, and on the other hand, we’re being told by city administration and legal that we have a responsibility, a provincial regulatory reason to prohibit that,” said councillor Robert Dumanowski, following the meeting.

“A lot of the things the city does are complaint driven and when somebody brings something to our attention and then the ball gets rolling and the province gets involved, then we have to act quickly,” Clugston added.

More conversations are expected to be had at the provincial level while staff work on alternative solutions.