West End Friends

Official Dog Park.
Posted 06/20/11

Since 2008, West End Friends has been attempting to have an official dog park established in the West End. This effort was initiated by the group West End Dogs, which was incorporated as a part of West End Friends in 2009.

While dogs and dog owners had used Francis Field for recreation for more than 20 years, they were banned from the field in 2008, during the term of a new director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. The application for a dog park on part of the field was also rejected a few months later.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A was instrumental in having the dog ban lifted, and passed a resolution introduced by West End representative Rebecca Coder on December 14, 2009, to allow time-sharing on the field between dog owners and other users. (See resolution in PDF format.)

This arrangement has worked well, and dogs have returned to Francis Field (as shown in the photograph above). But the field still has no status as an official dog park and no specific facilities for dogs. Owners are also technically required to keep dogs on leash.

Under a different DPR director, the District announced in May 2010 that it had accepted a revised application for an official dog park on the northern part of Francis Field. This new application was submitted by George Diliberto, the president of West End Dogs, and a member of the board of directors of West End Friends.. (See letter from DPR in JPG format.)

This application, which is currently pending, would establish a 7,500 square-foot, off-leash dog park between the athletic field space and Francis Swimming Pool at the north end of Francis Field. This dog park would have to be constructed on land entirely under the control of DPR, as National Park Service regulations prohibit dogs off-leash in Rock Creek Park, of which the NPS portions of Francis Field are a part. The full-size version of the diagram at left shows the border lines clearly. This diagram is in PDF format.

Complicating the dog-park finalization, however, has been a unrelated construction project by the District's Water and Sewer Authority, which will involve digging up this part of field for several months later in 2011.

West End Dogs will continue to coordinate with DPR to plan and implement an official dog park on a designated portion of Francis Field. Until an official park can be constructed and opened, the dog group is working with dog owners on rules, procedures and hours for dog exercise and recreation on the field.