AURORA — Hershey was still wet after a refreshing swim, roaming free with other dogs at Cherry Creek State Park on a recent afternoon.
Debra Voth and Harry Kilpatrick, the owners of the 1 1/2-year-old, frisky chocolate Lab, take Hershey to the 125-acre off-leash area at the park at least four times a week.
“It’s wonderful,” Voth said. “Hershey loves it.”
But Voth and hundreds of other users of the park say they’re worried about plans by Colorado State Parks to shrink and fence in the area where the dogs get to roam off-leash.
The same thing is slated to happen at Chatfield State Park.
“This is one of the only places we come where the dogs can run free,” said Kristine Rotundo, who was at Chatfield recently running her three dogs off-leash. “There’s so much room for them to run around. They love it here.”
Officials for Colorado State Parks say the dogs have damaged the land and vegetation and rendered the areas unsanitary with their waste. Conflicts with other users of the parks, such as hikers, bicyclists and horse riders, are creating a hazardous situation for both animals and humans, officials said.
“There’s a tremendous demand for off-leash areas,” said state parks spokeswoman Deb Frazier. “Cherry Creek and Chatfield are extremely popular with dog owners, but the areas now used for off-leash exercise were not designed for that use or the ever-increasing demand.”
In fact, the areas where the dogs now run free were designed to be places where people could train their dogs for hunting. But slowly, they became popular off-leash areas, and the number of dogs visiting them continues to grow.
Plans call for downsizing the off-leash area at Cherry Creek to 85 acres from its current 125 acres. It would be fenced and users would have to pay a fee, maybe a dollar, although that has not been finalized. The renovation would cost about $1.3 million, including fencing, rest rooms and staffing.
Chatfield’s off-leash area would shrink to about 74 acres from 109 and cost about $225,000, Frazier said.
Public meetings on the issue have been held; more are scheduled for June. The Colorado State Parks board will make a final decision in July, although dog owners are encouraging the board to consider the issue for a longer period.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Jan Bergin, who walks her two Dobermans, Juno and Sula, at Cherry Creek almost daily. “It’s become so popular. It’s a state park. If this is how people want to use the area, why wouldn’t they encourage it?”
Frazier points out that even after the proposed changes, Chatfield and Cherry Creek would still be the largest off-leash parks in the Denver area.
“Our goal is to have the best and largest off-leash areas in the metro area,” Frazier said.
About 220,000 visitors use the off-leash dog area at the Cherry Creek park each year, making up about 15 percent of the park’s total visits. On weekends, the place is packed, with hundreds of dogs and their owners.
But some users fear that if the state fences the areas and makes them smaller, hazards will increase as the number of people and dogs who use them increases.
Others say spending that amount of money in this economy just doesn’t make sense.
“Why would you bother wasting so much money on something that doesn’t need improvement?” said Mark Rider, who takes his dog to Cherry Creek on a regular basis.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
Come; speak
There will be two open houses on the latest plans for the off-leash dog parks at Cherry Creek and Chatfield state parks: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Cherry Creek High School, and 5:30 p.m. June 3 at the Hampton Inn at C-470 and Ken Caryl Avenue.
