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Recommendations and Guidelines for Dog Park Site Selection, Design, Operations and Maintenance Page 4 Goal 1 – Evaluate Community Preferences around Existing and Potential Future Dog Parks To meet this goal, the dog park subcommittee utilized a series of tools including: a community-wide survey, a series of public meetings, targeted outreach to engaged citizens, and discussion during dog park subcommittee meetings. Goal 2 – Research Best Management Practices to Inform Guidelines for Ann Arbor Dog Parks To meet this goal, the subcommittee contacted communities from around the country, referenced master plans, and conducted interviews with staff and other community members. From this research, summaries and charts were developed to compare best practices regarding dog parks. Results can be found in Appendix 4 and Appendix 5. Goal 3 - Provide Guidelines for the Development and Maintenance of New Dog Parks To meet this goal, the subcommittee set three objectives: 1) To develop criteria for site location; 2) To develop criteria for site design; 3) To establish a public process for decision making regarding siting new dog parks. To inform the guidelines, the committee reached out to communities around the country to gather best management practices, as well as to learn what might be improved with existing dog parks (Goal 2). The research included email, telephone interviews, website research, and review of master plans from other communities. The data was then collated into charts to compare criteria that guide development and maintenance of dog parks (Appendix 4). The committee also created a community-wide survey to assess citizen needs, interests, desires, and concerns regarding future and existing dog parks in Ann Arbor. In addition, two public meetings were held with citizens to review the results of the survey and further discuss issues and opportunities related to new and existing dog parks in Ann Arbor. The subcommittee reviewed the survey and public meeting input in the creation of this document. The results from the survey and meetings can be found in Appendix 1 and Appendix 3, respectively. Goal 4 – Provide Guidelines for the Ongoing Operation and Improvement of Existing Dog Parks To meet this goal, the subcommittee inventoried the existing Ann Arbor dog parks, including layout, amenities, operation, and maintenance practices. Enforcement issues outside of the existing dog parks were also studied. Input gathered from the survey and public meetings about what is and is not working well at Swift Run and Olson Parks, and research from other communities, helped the subcommittee to learn about best management practices. The committee also looked at volunteer and educational opportunities to aid in the management of future and existing dog parks. From this information, the subcommittee made recommendations to improve ongoing operation, infrastructure, and amenities at existing dog parks and to improve enforcement issues surrounding off-leash dogs in parks.