Long Beach dog park opens<\/p>\n
Published 5:24 pm Sunday, September 20, 2026<\/p>\n
LONG BEACH \u2014 A key ruling that was handed down earlier this month allowed the City of Long Beach to open its first dedicated dog park just in time for last weekend\u2019s annual festival celebrating man\u2019s best friend.<\/p>\n
A hearing examiner for the City of Long Beach on Sept. 9 formally gave the thumbs up to the city\u2019s application seeking an exception to its wetland regulations for the proposed site of its new dog park.<\/p>\n
A public hearing was held Aug. 28 with the hearing examiner regarding Long Beach\u2019s application to allow 6,490 feet of indirect wetland impacts just east of the boardwalk on Bolstad Avenue S. The city was seeking a variance from its critical areas ordinance to allow for the dog park to be housed there.<\/p>\n
About 40-50 feet of buffer was impacted by the dog park \u201cin most cases,\u201d city administrator David Glasson told the Observer. The park is located in the dunes near the Bolstad beach approach, just east of the recently opened Dune Meadows field where many events were held during this past weekend\u2019s Dog-O-Rama.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of an after-the-fact [acknowledgement] of \u2018Hey, we impacted a buffer,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t really do anything else to the dog park until we had approval from the hearing examiner.\u201d<\/p>\n
That approval came less than two weeks later, when the hearing examiner issued their report and signed off on the city\u2019s application for a variance.<\/p>\n
Glasson said a concern has also been raised about the prevalence of ticks in the general vicinity of the dog park. The city had been looking at putting down soil that is meant to combat ticks, but that effort had initially been put on pause while Long Beach waited for the hearing examiner process to play out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really can\u2019t do anything until we make sure the variance is approved,\u201d Glasson had said in late August. But aside from installing the anti-tick soil, he noted that much else needed to be done in order for the dog park to formally open.<\/p>\n
Fencing had previously been erected, after city councilors this spring authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement with Elma-based LaDue Fencing for $26,670. The fencing was installed earlier this summer.<\/p>\n
Rules and regulations<\/p>\n
The city council in the spring also approved an ordinance establishing rules and regulations for the dog park. The ordinance outlaws typical disobedience issues, such as fighting and harassment (for both dogs and people) as well as using \u201cfoul, obscene, offensive, or fighting words.\u201d Smoking is also forbidden, as is the possession of a knife or other dangerous weapon.<\/p>\n
Use of the park is limited from dawn to dusk, and all dogs must be leashed when entering and exiting the park. Owners must immediately clean their dog\u2019s waste, and also must remove their dog from the park if it is sick, in heat, or being aggressive.<\/p>\n
The first offense for violators includes a three-day ban from the park, which escalates to a seven-day ban for second-time offenders. Those with three or more offenses will be banned from the park for 30 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn officer having probable cause to believe a violation of this Ordinance has occurred may detain a person long enough to write and deliver the notification required herein,\u201d the ordinance states.<\/p>\n
Criminal trespassing charges can also be filed against violators who do not abide by the ban.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach dog park opens Published 5:24 pm Sunday, September 20, 2026 LONG BEACH \u2014 A key ruling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-470427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}