The city of Durango has identified Rank Park near Durango High School as the most ideal location for a new dog park.
City staff members evaluated eight potential sites and narrowed the selection down to the three most favorable parks, with Rank Park standing out among the rest.
Assistant Parks Director Sara Humphrey said Rank Park south of the DHS baseball field is a solid option because of its proximity to the Animas River Trail, which is frequented by cyclists and dog walkers, and because Junction Creek separates the space from nearby homes.
Parking, however, is limited, with the closest residential street being Alamo Drive, which is often congested, she said. A natural spring also exists under the hillside at the park, and the city will need to determine whether the springs would impact usability.
The dog park, if pursued, would be about 0.9 acres in size.
In addition to Rank Park, the city identified Rio Vista and 29th Street near the river put-in as strong options for a new dog park.
Humphrey said the 29th Street site would share a boundary with six residents, and because of Animas River Trail development planned next year, construction of a new dog park there would likely have to wait until 2027. A dog park built there would be about 0.7 acres.
The Oppie Reames soft surface trail, named after the late Oppie Reames, an elementary school teacher and avid bird watcher who died in 1972, could also complicate the building of a dog park at 29th Street.
“We’d have to do some evaluation on the historical significance of that if we were really going to look at cutting that off,” Humphrey said.
The Rio Vista site is located south of DHS and a trail leads to the Rio Vista neighborhood. Nearby homes are uphill from the site, connected by a cut trail that also connects to the Animas River Trail. Schoolchildren in the neighborhood frequently use the trail, she said. A dog park built there would be about 0.8 acres.
Other sites evaluated by city staff members were Jenkins Ranch Park, Folsom Park, Pioneer Park, a city-owned lot at East Second Avenue and 32nd Street and Holly Avenue.
Having selected Rank Park as its first choice, next steps for city staff members are to discuss the idea with Durango School District, given the site’s proximity to the high school baseball field, Humphrey said.
“We do share that north park boundary with them,” she said. “Then we could move to neighborhood engagement with residents on Alamo (Drive) and the surrounding area. Based on feedback from residents, we could proceed with site selection.”
She added that Durango Parks and Recreation requested $57,500 to be earmarked in the city’s 2026 capital improvement budget to build a new dog park or dog play area within the city’s existing park system.
Residents have renewed calls for additional dog parks along the Animas River Trail after a Durango man died after colliding with an off-leash dog in March.
Durango residents Richard Reynolds and Paula Lutz previously told The Durango Herald that building multiple dog parks along the river trail would reduce interactions between trail users and dogs while giving dog owners a convenient place to let their dogs safely run and play off their leashes.
They suggested building a partitioned dog park or parks with separate large and small dog play areas.
Humphrey said the city’s site evaluations were made under the assumption just one dog park would be built – in addition to a dog park planned on Durango Mesa next year and an existing off-leash dog park at the base of Smelter Mountain – although multiple parks could be considered if city councilors so chose.
cburney@durangoherald.com
