Coto's CA Canine Corral opens Today

We have been keeping an eye on the process of Coto establishing a dog park within their private community and it finally opens today. The Canine Corral as it's named is opening with some controversy. The Dog park opponents main criticisim is that they say, CZ Master, the largest HOA in the community, pushed through the dog park with no community input. There is an article in today's South County section of the OC Register regarding the resident's complaints , and an announcement of it opening in the Trabuco Canyon News . I believe Dove Canyon residents started on the right track in regards to getting an off leash play area for our dogs. I'm glad residents initiated this request with our HOA Board and I'm happy that our HOA Board listens to the residents and agreed to put out a survey to gage initial interest from homeowners to see if a Park 4 Paws is a amenity that should be added to our community. I really hope that if our community response is in favor of a Park 4 Paws, that a committee is formed with both HOA members and homeowners to study all aspects of a dog park ... Design, Cost, maintenance, etc. I have already heard from homeowners that they don't want a dog park because of the high cost of liability insurance... I think it's very preliminary to speculate if Dove Canyon would even have to get additional insurance. We e-mailed CZ Master Association if they had an increase or added additional liability and their response was "

Our agent checked & advised that insurance was not an issue for us at this time; it can become an issue after you have an incident. We are not having waivers signed but posting that by entering you accept the liability"

. I'm not saying this will be the same for Dove, but I do think everyone should keep an open mind and find out the facts by going to the next level. Dove Canyon HOA will present all the facts by a Park 4 Paws committee to the homeowners to vote in a new amenity before it can be implemented, so let's see what is involved first. If I use the formula that was in the Trabuco Canyon News as to determine how many dogs were in Coto, it would work out as: According to the Humane Society, almost 40% of U.S. Households own a dog and 33% of those own two or more. That translates to roughly 665 Dogs in Dove Canyon based on 1,252 homes. Let's hope that everyone turns in their surveys by the June 15th deadline and that we can continue to forming a committee and find out what it shall really take to develop a dog park with our community informed every step of the way.