Background

The City of Oceanside’s first and only off-leash dog facility was forced to close in 2018, leaving the City without any public off-leash dog facilities. Currently, many City residents take their dogs to surrounding cities’ dog parks or unlawfully bringing their off-leash dogs to City parks and Oceanside School District’s property.

A dog facilities study was approved as part of the FY 2021-22 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Budget to determine which of the City’s existing/planned parks may best accommodate a public off-leash dog facility. Staff determined that Ron Ortega Park would be the best site for a public off-leash dog facility in the near term. For more information regarding the dog facilities study, please contact the Project Manager, Kymberly Corbin (KCorbin@oceansideca.org).

Project Scope

The Ron Ortega Dog Facility scope includes development of up to 2.8 acres of vacant, unprogrammed, and under-utilized space designated in the diagram below. It is anticipated to include separate off-leash, fenced pens for large and small dogs to run and play freely, and will also include seating, shade structure(s), and drinking fountains for both dogs and humans. Improvements located outside of the fenced pens include lit, accessible sidewalks, as well as landscape and drainage improvements.

Site Constraints

The location of the future Ron Ortega Dog Facility is on the site of the former Maxon St. Landfill that is heavily regulated. Due to the site being a former landfill, the following restrictions are in place:

1. All monitoring wells will need to be outside of the required dog pens to allow for monitoring by regulatory agencies and maintenance/monitoring by the City of Oceanside’s Public Works Department.
2. Any landscape planted on the site will require minimal irrigation to prevent water seeping into landfill, use only drought tolerant/low water use plants, and the root system of the trees may not penetrate the landfill waste.
3. The dog facility surfacing will require the existing drainage swale to be protected and no added slopes. In order to reduce any water seeping into landfill, the chosen surfacing is decomposed granite as grass/mulch requires extensive watering for maintenance.
4. Any furnishing’s (benches, shade structure(s), drinking fountain, etc.) may not penetrate into landfill waste and designed to allow for ground settlement over time due to trash decomposition.

In addition to the site being a former landfill, the site is adjacent to existing baseball fields and batting cages, residential area, and a portion of the site is currently used to play Pelota Mixteca, a game of indigenous Oaxacan origins. Therefore, the design must take into account the other users of the park in order to be a positive addition to the park.

What is the Outreach Process?

The outreach process will include two (2) public outreach meetings. The first of those meetings will be held in-person to gain an understanding of what the public would like to see at the Ron Ortega Park Dog Facility given the site constraints. Based on the input received from the first public outreach, the City will seek additional outreach at the 2nd meeting. Community input is requested during both of the public outreach meetings.

Ron Ortega Dog Facility Public Outreach #1 (2023)

The City had an in-person meeting on Wednesday, November 8th at 6 PM inside Council Chambers to discuss the Ron Ortega Dog Facility. The PowerPoint presentation and the recording of the meeting can be found below.

Ron Ortega Dog Facility Presentation 11.8.23

For those unable to attend the meeting, we are still looking for your input until Friday, December 15th. Please complete the survey or scan the QR code below. You can also request a hard copy from Project Manager, Kymberly Corbin (KCorbin@oceansideca.org).

Schedule of Upcoming Meetings

Please check back for the date of the 2nd Public Outreach.

Get Connected, Be Informed, Be Involved

As a member of the Oceanside community and user of these facilities, your input will be critical to the success of this study. If you would like to be added to an interested parties list please contact project manager Kymberly Corbin at KCorbin@oceansideca.org. By requesting to be part of this list, you will receive periodic emails of upcoming meetings and outreach events.

Project Manager: Kymberly Corbin, KCorbin@oceansideca.org

Project #: CIP22-00014

Program: Park Fees

Current Phase: Design