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Open Space Advisory Board <br />Minutes <br />January 10th, 2017 <br />Page 3 of 6 <br />David asked Helen whether her response to this motion was more about policy or <br />more about the topic at hand. Helen answered that she had a reaction at both levels. <br />She didn't like that Council told the board what to recommend before the board even <br />made a formal recommendation. But she was also disappointed that closure of the <br />DOLA was taken entirely off the table. She added that it felt too early to make that <br />decision, even if the closure is politically unlikely. <br />Helen spent about 30 minutes after the Council meeting meeting with citizens <br />who were very interested in helping to be good stewards of the DOLA. She said it was <br />really inspirational to hear how much people cared about the land and how they want to <br />organize and to help. Jim added that he also sincerely appreciated the citizens' input. <br />B. At the December OSAB meeting, the board intended to discuss the memo <br />written by Jim and Helen about options for the DOLA. Due to the large public <br />attendance that night, the meeting turned into a listening session and the memo was <br />never formally discussed. Helen called the board's attention to the City of Denver's Off - <br />leash Park Plan and the City of Portland's Dog Plan, as examples of how other cities <br />have tackled these issues. Fiona particularly liked how Denver created small citizen <br />user -groups. Helen added that there are recommendations from the Council meeting, <br />the December OSAB meeting, and the Denver document. <br />Mike expressed his frustration at coping with dog issues year -after -year, focusing <br />on DOLA rather than the issue of dogs in the City, holistically. He added that in his <br />mind, the true issue is that the DOLA is inconsistent with the Open Space. He wants to <br />develop a holistic plan, then see how the Davidson Mesa DOLA responds. He thinks a <br />key component in doing this will be the input of Parks. <br />Joe asked for a few representatives from both PPLAB and OSAB to form a <br />working group. He added that there are some parcels that the City owns that are neither <br />Open Space or Park, that might be suitable for dog recreation. Jill Ruggle (893 Larkspur <br />Ct) requested that citizens should be included in this working group as well. Helen <br />asked for volunteers for a dog recreation strategy tiger team to meet with Joe and <br />PPLAB. Mike and Fiona volunteered. Mike asked Joe if any PPLAB members <br />volunteered and Joe answered that they hadn't yet. <br />C. Jim attended the Walk with the Mayor event. He thought it was a nice event <br />with 6-8 attendees. The mayor, Ember, and the ranger were all there. Jim witnessed <br />Ranger Aubrey warn a citizen who had a dog off -leash. <br />VII. Public Comments on Items Not on the Agenda - <br />A. Rick Ruggle (893 Larkspur Ct) reported that the recent Davidson Mesa DOLA <br />clean-up event went well. He added his impression that there were a lot of emotional <br />citizens at the last OSAB meeting who hadn't fully understood some of the issues. He <br />felt that the City needs a better way to communicate with the users. He added that <br />Davidson Mesa is getting "hammered," noting that the parking lots are always full, and <br />there is lots of dog waste outside of the DOLA. He reported that he sees lots of <br />photographers walking all over the fields, not staying on trail. He would like to see more <br />enforcement. He commented that businesses and Boy Scout troops can volunteer to <br />help with clean-up. <br />B. John Park (477 W. Sycamore Ct) commented that there were a lot of strange <br />comments at the last meeting. He would like to see a well-defined list of the issues at <br />play. He would like to see clearer communication of the issues from the City to help get <br />better citizen buy -in. Fiona agreed that she would also like to see citizen this. <br />C. Bruce Janda (806 W. Mulberry) wanted to see better communication with the <br />public, specifically recommending clipboards at the site. <br />5 <br />