At its Jan. 21 meeting, the Open Space Conservancy Trust recommended that the city of Mercer Island confine horse and off-leash dog activity to the southeast quadrant of Pioneer Park, and change the popular northwest quadrant from an off-leash to an on-leash park area.

More information and study will be required before any action will take place, said Bruce Fletcher, director of the Parks and Recreation department.

The issue was referred to the City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee, consisting of Deputy Mayor Debbie Bertlin and Councilmembers Wendy Weiker and Dan Grausz.

“The Council has not scheduled any vote on any issue involving dogs in Pioneer Park or anywhere else,” Grausz wrote in an email update to Islanders. “I continue to encourage people to stand down on this issue until we know what the proposal will actually be that needs to be commented on and when it will be considered.”

Dogs are currently permitted in all Pioneer Park trails, but must remain on-leash in the northeast quadrant. Off-leash dogs in the northwest and southeast quadrants are required to be under voice and/or signal control.

“Under voice and/or signal control” means the immediate recall of an animal to the person in control of the animal when signaled or called. To be under effective voice and/or signal control, the animal must be within the sight of the person in control, according to city law.

“The Trust board has received numerous reports from several residents of dog behavior in Pioneer Park that does not adhere to the code,” according to a memo from Geraldine Poor, chair of the Open Space Conservancy Trust.

Citizens have complained that many dogs in the northwest quadrant are off-leash, but not under voice control. One started a petition last April.

“Due to numerous incidents and safety concerns with off-leash dogs in our parks, we believe that the ‘voice control’ portion of the code is not working and needs to be removed from the city code,” the petition reads. “Dogs should be on a leash unless in designated off-leash areas.”

In September 2014, the Trust board sent a memo to City Council requesting the code to require leashes on the north portion of the perimeter trail in the northwest quadrant, where the park meets private property, but no action was taken.

The perimeter trail is the most heavily used trail in Pioneer Park and is intended to be usable by everyone, including small children and people with limited mobility who may feel uncomfortable around off-leash dogs.

“Despite education efforts on the part of Parks and Recreation as well as the Police Department, observations of the trustees and complaints from park users continue to confirm there is a problem,” according to Poor’s memo.

The Trust also considered the environmental effect of dogs running off-trail, impacting flora and wildlife.

Some Islanders on social media said that some irresponsible pet owners are ruining the experience for, and reputation of, the majority of off-leash dog walkers, and that the city should enforce the voice control rule, rather than change it. But enforcement is already an issue.

“The board’s 2014 memo to City Council recommended that only the north portion of the perimeter trail be designated as on-leash,” according to Poor’s memo. “The Trust board has reconsidered this request. It does not address other issues described above and seems unrealistic to enforce.”

A notice was posted in Pioneer Park telling citizens to attend the Parks and Recreation subcommittee meeting at 7:30 a.m. on March 3 at the Community and Event Center, to write or email the committee, to email the Parks and Recreation department or to speak at the next City Council meeting at 7 p.m. on March 7 at City Hall to voice their opinion on the proposed change.

The biennial citizen survey will also touch on the leash law issue.

For more on the city’s leash law, click here.