Proposed changes to Family Park leave off-leash dog owners angry

Potential changes to Sioux Falls’ Family Park have some dog owners feeling like they’re losing out on space to let their dogs run off leash.

Sioux Falls is currently in the process of building a master plan for Family Park, especially the 155-acre parcel donated to the city by the Unzelman family in 2018 that is relatively undeveloped.

After preliminary design, including an open house meeting in July and an online survey that received more than 1,200 responses, an initial concept for changes to the park debuted at a Nov. 28 meeting.

Members of the SooFoo Off Leash Dog Association, a Facebook group created in 2022, say they showed up in droves at both meetings, pushing back on proposals that would limit the amount of off-leash dog space in the park, with leader Kristen Phipps saying the November meeting “got to be really heated.”

The park currently has 108 acres of space designated for off-leash dogs, though Park Development Specialist Carter Roberts said the off-leash areas were “not very-well defined,” and there was occasionally confusion as to where dogs were supposed to be.

In the initial concept presented in November, the off-leash area would be reduced to a size of 58.5 acres.

Phipps said she’s worried that’s not enough space for the current users of the park, a sentiment shared by those who have showed up to recent meetings of the Sioux Falls City Council, along with an interest in seeing the park at large remain natural.

Members of the Facebook page have coordinated appearances at council meetings, shared communications from various city employees or officials, and in the case of one user redesigned the official proposal in an effort to include the park’s new additions without affecting the off-leash dog space.

“There’s not a day someone’s not out there,” Phipps said, who added that no other park in the city gives them the same opportunities as family park, and said she didn’t feel like the process was much of a compromise.

“Why are we the only ones that have to work with other groups?” she asked.

Additions to the park proposed in the presentation include bike trails, paved trails, wetland boardwalks, playground structures, a kayak launch and a road that goes through the middle of the park.

The presentation also proposes space for winter activities including ice fishing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

In an interview, Roberts said he “can’t stress enough that this is a long-range plan,” and buy-in from the community is important before any final decisions are made.

Roberts said the preliminary design was guided by public input, noting that increased walking trails were the No. 1 thing mentioned in the survey — 51% of the survey results, compared to 24% for “expanded dog areas.”

The presentation also shows 61% of respondents said they used the existing walking trails, compared to 31% for the off-leash dog park.

But, Roberts emphasized, the plan is — and always was — for a further revision to the plan, which he said would take place after stakeholder meetings with groups including the off-leash dog community, bikers and more.

“That much feedback really excites us,” Roberts said. “Everything that we’ve heard is that we want to keep it as natural as possible.”

And they’re likely to hear more feedback. Dog owners are expected to show up at both Wednesday's meeting of the city’s Parks and Recreation Board, as well as a Jan. 2 informational meeting, where the council will hear about the master planning process.

For the moment, nothing is likely to change about Family Park. Roberts said it’s much too early in the process to say when any changes could begin to take place, only that it’s “a ways out.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Possible changes at Sioux Falls' Family Park anger off-leash dog owners