Dog Leash Laws in Bryan Park

This article was published in the Herald Times Hotline column yesterday (2/14/08). Be aware that dogs are required to be on leash at all times. The article follows:


Dogs gone wild vs. the leash and collar set

QUESTION: Our family has a complaint. For several years, there seems to have been an unwritten relaxing of the leash requirement for dogs at Bryan Park. When we try to walk our dog, the loose dogs often charge at our dog (sometimes in aggression, sometimes because they want to play), making it very difficult to control our dog. The dog owners often act as if their unrestrained pets are a completely normal situation, and we’re the crankpots. Recently we counted 13 dogs running loose. The situation has gotten so bad that our kids can’t safely walk the dog. How can we get the leash ordinance enforced at Bryan Park?

K.C., Bloomington

ANSWER: Hotline contacted Mick Renneisen, director of Bloomington Parks and Recreation, and Laurie Ringquist, Bloomington Animal Care and Control officer. The city has posted signs reminding park visitors that dogs are required to be on a leash, and animal control officers patrol the park at random times, issuing warnings and tickets as appropriate.

Ringquist said if you see an unleashed dog, call Animal Control at 349-3492 and “we will do our best to get there as soon as possible.” Often, by the time an officer arrives, the animal is leashed or gone. But if there seems to be a pattern as to days or times, please report it to Animal Control so the park can be patrolled more frequently at those times.

2008 Officers

President	Jan Sorby
Vice President	Scott O'Bryan
Treasurer	Lillie Aydt
Secretary	Mary Lou Mitchell
CONA Representatives	Eve Corrigan, Jon Lawrence

Contact Information

Inquiries about the BPNA are welcome at 812-339-2628.

Call Dick or Mary Lou Mitchell, 339-5096, for Neighborhood Watch issues affecting the safety of quality of life in the neighborhood. Your concern will be presented to the appropriate city office and your identity will be kept confidential.

To share an idea for a History article, contact Mary Lou Mitchell at the pnone number above or by email at richard_mitchell_401@comcast.net.

BPNA Meeting, 1/22/08

Bryan Park Neighborhood Association
Meeting Agenda

January 22, 2008
Free Methodist Church
7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Call to Order, Introductions and sign up sheet

Old Business
1. CONA report – Eve Corrigan
2. Update on dog bag dispensers – Jan Sorby/Liz Brown
3. Sidewalk Update – Jan Sorby / Jane Walters

New Business
1. Guest Speaker -- Nancy Hiestand, Historic Preservation Commission
2. Ways to improve our neighborhood????

Adjournment

Surveying Our Options

OK, imagineers, put on your thinking caps. What would you do—and not do—with a decommissioned church in the middle of a residential neighborhood?

Jan Sorby, BPNA president, reports that a number of prospective buyers of the former Church of Christ at the corner of Davis and Washington have approached her to ask what redevelopment options the neighborhood would consider appropriate.

“I can tell you what I think,” Sorby tells them, “but to be fair, let’s take a survey of the neighbors to get broader input—especially from people who would be impacted by parking and traffic near their homes.”

The people living nearby are not the only ones who will be affected by the outcome, however. Sorby says, “There is a bigger issue here than just the adaptive re-use of a single property. We all have to start thinking about how we want our neighborhood to evolve. This is a core neighborhood, close to downtown, and attractively priced. It will change. Whether it does so at random or by design is up to us, to a certain extent.”

Another church could take over the building and its current commercial zoning without change. Bloomington’s Uniform Development Ordinance permits various conditional uses of property in neighborhoods like this, zoned single-family residential—for example, churches, schools, and home-based businesses (e.g., a photographer’s studio, an accountant’s office, in-home day care).

With a variance, the property might be used for business offices rented to non-resident professionals or business owners. In addition, decommissioned churches across the country have been converted into condominiums, performance space and galleries, yoga centers and spas, and many other uses.

To let your voice be heard, call Sorby at 334-2075 or send an email to jansorby@sbcglobal.net. Your identity will be kept confidential unless you direct otherwise.

From January 2008 BPNA Neighborhood News