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According to the Recreation & Park Department, San Francisco has 26 officially recognized dog play areas, totaling 120 acres. But with an estimated 120,000 dogs in the city, there are still neighborhoods that are underserved when it comes to off-leash space.
Before choosing a location for your proposed dog park, conduct a thorough assessment of the open space in the area. How many parks are there? What sorts of facilities to they contain? Who uses them? What condition are they in?
Don't limit yourself to parks. Any open space could work, including an underutilized parking area, a vacant lot or even an abandoned warehouse. Successful dog parks have sprung up beneath highway overpasses, on wide medians and atop reservoirs in the Bay Area. You can find out who owns a parcel of land by visiting the Office of the Assessor-Recorder at City Hall. Using the department's online parcel search tool, dubbed SFParcel, you can find such basic information as the block and lot numbers, how large the parcel is, and whether it's zoned for residential or commercial use.
Weigh the merits of each space. An ideal dog park is at least an acre (43,560 square feet), but smaller spaces can work nicely if carefully designed and well maintained. The Recreation & Park Department in San Francisco has set the minimum size for a dog run on city parkland at 10,000 square feet.
Look for areas that are at a safe remove from busy traffic, or can easily be fenced on the sides bounded by roads. Dogs and their owners should be able to get to the run safely and easily at all hours, even on short winter days when it's dark during prime morning and evening walk times.
If your park will be a destination for dog owners from other neighborhoods, you'll need to take parking into account. Is there ample parking on nearby streets? Will you need to incorporate a parking area into your proposal? Even for a neighborhood park, to which most users will walk, there should be a bit of parking to serve the elderly and disabled (human and canine, alike).
Above all, keep an open mind. Since your first choice of locations may not pan out, it's a good idea to identify more than one site and to create a list of pros and cons for each option.
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