Preliminary Report - The Yocham/Varo Dog Park is a Dud

Posted By CotoBlogzz 06-07-2010 08:00 PM

We took our cocker spaniel, seven year old Coto Lady, for a walk to the new Yocham-Varo Dog Park this afternoon to verify whether what we had expected all along had materialized or whether we had been using tunnel vision – sad to say that we have been right all along – the park is a total waste of money for many reasons, however, the one mostly cited by the Village residents is not one of them:  “Unfortunately the ugly dog park is destroying the beautiful passive park area below Alondra,” reads the June 2010 Village newsletter.  For starters, the park is right next to the Coto Polo Arena – another venue  subsidized by the CZ Master Association residents and mostly supported by the Village residents – the ones who enjoy the Coto Life Style and pay nothing for it – that is, the tail of the community trying to bite the hand that is feeding it.

The latest flawed argument in support of the Yocahm-Varo Dog Park (why?  Because it is a real puppy!) presented by the CZ Master Association in the June 2010 Newsletter is that “there is no doubt a dong park is long overdue for Coto residents.  According to the Humane Society, almost 40% of the US Households own at least one dog and 33% of all those dog owners own two or more.  That translates roughly to 2,000 dogs who call Coto home.”

The Yocham/Varo Dog Park - why?   because it is a real puppy!

Now here is a question?  Of the 2,000 dogs in Coto, how many dog owners will be compelled to take their pets to what amounts to a kennel where the pets may have more space in their owners backyards? Our premise was that usage of the Yocham/Dog Park would not be much different from the Horse Trails, paid for 100% by CZ residents, but only used by some 1%.  Our first spot check confirmed it:  We saw some pets coming and going with less than 10 actually in the park.  On the other hand, as we drove around the community, we saw a large number of pet owners exercising and or walking their dogs – more of what we expect will be the standard practice.

As we let Coto Lady get acquainted with its surroundings, we overheard a lively conversation between pet owners I the park joking about the long list of regulations they had to abode by in order to use the park, then as if on queue, a female pet owner asked rhetorically “and where are we supposed to seat?” which largely fits our pre-conceived notion of the pet owner mostly compelled to use the new facilities.

Here is the clincher however; we estimate that if the park has more than 12 pets at any one time, it will be so crowded that the pets may just as well roam around in their pet owners’ backyard.

All in all what we though – a financially bone-headed idea!

This is just one more subsidy for a small number of CZ members.  I

really think that those who use this dog park should pay for its

maintenance through some sort of CZ annual dog license user fee.  Why

not? We have no multi-generational park in Coto, when the vast majority

of our members are over 55 years old and empty nesters; yet we now have

a dog park.  What am I missing here?  About 500 CZ Member families, if

that, use the Sports Park out of 3,550 and pay little or nothing to

maintain it.  The majority of CZ Members who pay dues get no amenities

for our money in return, no club house, no pool, no tennis courts, no

multigenerational park etc.   For the same $210 a month, slightly less

in Reno, we get all of these things plus normal maintenance of common

area and streets and security. The majority of us pay $216 a month in

Coto and only get the last three items for our money.   This is a major

disconnect.  This dog park, which was ill advised and will result in

liability for CZ, just wait and see, just compounds the problem further.

It is one more costly boondoggle that will contribute to a dues

increase.  JM    

Joseph Morabito, SCRP, former director CZ Master Association

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Hello All:  I can't imagine why CZ would waste time or money building a Dog Park on our common area, when we still don't have a multi-generational park in Coto that would meet the needs of our changing demographic.  We gave away our Sports Park to outsiders for peanuts to benefit a few hundred CZ members in Coto.   And, the CZ Board now wants to commit what little decent common area we have left to another few hundred members so they can run their dogs around crapping on our common area land.   There is something very wrong with this picture