Preserve Burnet Woods, the organization that has led the charge against a planned dog park in Burnet Woods, is disbanding to repurpose their efforts after disagreements with the Cincinnati Park Board.
Burnet Woods is a popular, 90-acre park with a nature center, walking trails and a lake. The park will soon feature a fenced dog park at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Brookline Drive in Burnet Woods.
Conversations about the $450,000 project started all the way back in 2014, and many residents have expressed support for the new amenity at Burnet Woods. According to Cincinnati Parks, the dog park will take up only 0.2% of the current park.
However, for the past six years, many residents have opposed the proposed dog park. Leading the charge was nonprofit organization Preserve Burnet Woods (PBW).
According to PBW’s website, the dog park was set into motion without consulting crucial park stakeholders and residents. Additionally, the planned use of artificial turf in the dog park is worrisome to the volunteers and PBW.
However, while Cincinnati officials have hosted public comment sessions, responded to public feedback and adjusted park plans, construction of the dog park remains in motion.
Now, PBW is disbanding due to the inability to find any common ground with the Park Board and the Park Board’s alleged poor treatment of the opposition.
According to a statement from the PBW Board of Directors, “Administrative shakeups have resulted in a lack of park management experience at the highest level, a deliberate removal of such experience from the Director role, and the failure of City leaders to appoint Commissioners with significant ecological or parks background into decision-making roles.”
Furthermore, at the July 18, 2024 Park Board meeting, Commissioner Susan Castellini referred to the nonprofit’s opposition to the dog park as “squealing,” which the PBW said “made it clear that not only does the Board apparently not value our thousands of volunteer hours backed by donated ecological expertise, but that some Commissioners are making decisions about the future of taxpayer-owned parklands from a place of spite rather than reason.”
PBW will continue operation until the first quarter of 2025, but will then shift gears to focus on a new entity members are creating to fix “systemic dysfunction at Cincinnati Parks.”
