The City of Issaquah Parks and Recreation Department will investigate a number of options for Timberlake Park, following the decision to ban pets from the park after numerous complaints during the summer that unrestrained dogs were causing a nuisance there.

It is within the authority of the city to ban pets from certain public areas, a decision the city took after an increase in the number of people ignoring regulations in Timberlake Park that dogs be on a leash at all times.

At an open house involving city staff and residents on Wednesday night, after The Reporter’s deadline, the city’s Parks and Recreation department began the process of considering other alternatives, one that would hopefully satisfy dog owners and those not canine affiliated.

According to Parks and Recreation Director Anne McGill, one of those options could include the appointment of an enforcement officer, who would patrol parks and would have the ability to issue fines for non-compliance with on-leash regulations.

“We want to get people’s feelings about using stronger enforcement,” McGill said, adding that the role of such an officer would be to educate dog owners and remind them if they failed to comply, and that issuing a fine would be a last resort.

She said she was perplexed as to why off-leash dogs were a problem this summer as never before, and said that a number of dog owners, when confronted as to why their dog wasn’t on a leash, responded argumentatively.

McGill said her department had received 20 complaints about off-leash dogs this summer, though she was aware of more incidences that weren’t reported.

She said that Mercer Island and Kirkland had amended their pet ordinance, enabling them to employ an enforcement officer.

In Kirkland the fine was $66, and in Mercer Island, $250.

A few years ago the state parks department instituted a similar system in the Lake Sammamish State Park, where the fine is now $76 for violating leash laws.

McGill said that enforcement officers also patrolled a number of public areas in Seattle, where fines ran as high as $500.

She said the city was hoping to not inconvenience those many residents who did obey leash laws.

“Those law abiding citizens are not doing anything wrong,” she said, relating the story of a women whose dog, on a leash, was attacked in the city by others dogs who were not restrained.

“We feel that Issaquah is somewhere that people should be able to visit our parks and enjoy them and not have dogs jumping all over them,” McGill said.

Another option for the city is the creation of a team of volunteer park stewards, who would not issue fines but would work to educate park users.

While pointing to other areas where this has worked in the past, McGill recognized that this would be asking a lot of people.

“In a number of the off-leash parks in Seattle, there are organizations that just remind people of the rules of the park – no viscous dogs, everyone pick up after themselves, etc,” she said. “They become stewards of the park.”

She said park volunteers would wear a hat and badge, identifying themselves as park stewards, and that they could hand out pamphlets reminding users of the park rules.

“While it wouldn’t involve citation, it would involve going up and talking to people, which I understand can be challenging for some people,” McGill said.

She added that although her department hadn’t set themselves a deadline to make any regulation changes, she did hope that with reduced activity in the park during the cooler months, they might be able to have something in place by the time spring comes around again.