REDMOND, Wash. — For the first time, the City of Redmond has a space designed for dogs to play off-leash.
The city just opened a pop-up dog park downtown to address the growing demand for dog parks.
“A good percentage of our households have a pet and predominantly dogs in our city,” said the mayor of Redmond, Angela Birney. “So I've seen a great increase with neighbors walking their dogs out where I live and walking around downtown as well with their dogs."
The new fully-fenced half-acre dog park is located at Luke McRedmond Park. City officials said it’s open seven days a week from dusk until dawn. The pop-up dog park is expected to be open until September, then the city will plan to create another pop-up location within city limits that will open from spring to fall of 2024.
"I think it's fantastic, I really do,” said Cameron Macmillan, a dog owner who visited the park with his dogs on Tuesday. “I think it shows that they understand dogs need exercise and there are just limited places where they can go to do that and be off-leash."
City officials said they have $102,000 budgeted for the temporary parks, with most of the funds dedicated to maintenance. They're seeking public input for a permanent location and hope to select one in 2025.
"Love to have it permanent, but also I like the idea that they're just testing it out,” said Macmillan. "Let's just see what happens and see if it gets used and if it does get used a lot, maybe they do need another one, who knows."