When I stopped at Dooley’s Dog House the other day to pick up dog food for my Yorkie, I found out there is a grass roots effort to develop a dog park in Kirkland, a place for our four legged friends and their owners to meet and greet. 

Dog parks are high on the list of amenities home owners appreciate having in their community. I wrote about the latest ”hot” amenities in a previous posting on my eastside blog. Kirkland is noted for its beaches and access to the lake, its great restaurants, parks, and galleries. All these things contribute to higher home values in Kirkland.

When we Realtors look for homes for our buyers, we look at all the location offers.  Homes with great streets, good commutes, access to shopping, good schools, parks and dog parks add value to daily living and dollars to home prices.  From a real estate point of view, a city/neighborhood dog park can only add value to living in Kirkland for everyone. 

 Think of all the people (and dogs) you know who would love to have a dog park.  A dog park gives people, and their dogs, a safe place to enjoy each other and the outdoors.  Marymoor Park has one of the best dog parks anywhere and is a boon to the City of Redmond and King County.

S.OD.A., a group founded in the 1990’s to keep open space for dogs, has been helping a local group in Kirkland lobby for a dog park. The Kirkland group is called KDOG, Kirkland Dog Off Leash Group. The group made a presentation to the Parks Board in November.   

If you are interested and want to support the effort, you can sign up for the next meeting,which is this Tuesday evening at the Starbuck’s in Juanita at 7 PM. The next step for the dog park is to develop by-laws and to register a non-profit group with the state. Let the City Council know of your interest by showing your support either by signing the petition, volunteering or donating a few dollars.

Hope to see you at the dog park.