City Park promenade in downtown Kelowna.

(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

Kelowna’s dog parks aren’t easily accessible for those with disabilities, and the new dog run coming to City Park in the city's downtown aims to fill that gap.

The City of Kelowna began clearing trees for the $750,000 dog park at the corner of Abbott Street and Harvey Avenue on Feb. 3.

“Of the other dog parks in Kelowna, of the ten that we do have, none of those are accessible for wheelchair users,” Geert Bos infrastructure manager for the City of Kelowna told iNFOnews.ca. "When we start taking those needs into consideration you're looking at paving and some of the other features that we need to incorporate and that just increases the price."

Bos said the price tag is expensive because the park is going to be one of the first things people see when they enter Kelowna from the bridge.

“This is not your regular dog park. If you look at the location for example this is a premium location. It's at the entry into a beautiful town when you exit the William Bennett Bridge and to basically put a fenced area with a bunch of mulch in it is probably not the best use of space,” he said.

The park is going to have a balance beam, agility poles, ramps, mounds and tunnels, a bridge and boulders.

“It needs to look more like a playground. It needs to look good. In the end it is our business card as an entry into the city and it was a very heavily under utilized space so it was a good opportunity to have some fun with the space and do something different,” he said.

READ MORE: iN PHOTOS: How playful otters adapt to icy conditions in Kamloops, Okanagan

A map of the new dog park planned for City Park in Kelowna.

Image Credit: City of Kelowna

The park plan was announced on Jan. 30 and Bos said since then there has been a bit of a mixed reaction from residents.

"We've heard from very different folks and some people are very supportive of it and some people have a different opinion about it, but I think overall it's been quite positive," he said. 

There are currently more than 16,000 licensed dogs in Kelowna, according to the Regional District of Central Okanagan. As the population in downtown densifies, Bos said people are going to need the space for their pets.

“There's been 20 buildings of over 20 stories either built or approved combined, so that's a lot of extra density and as of today there is no real area for folks that have pets to go,” he said.

Construction is set to begin in March and be complete at the end of May.

Animal law expert and UBC adjunct professor at Allard School of Law, Victoria Shroff, previously told iNFOnews.ca that without facilities for pets, unleashed dogs in unsafe areas can cause dangerous situations.

“What happens is people are inclined to let their dogs roam off leash anyways,” Shroff said. “The last I saw there were some 17,000 licensed dogs in Kelowna alone. When you have that number of dogs and a lack of dog parks you’re going to have problems.”

To contact a reporter for this story, email Jesse Tomas or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. Find our Journalism Ethics policy here.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.

News from © iNFOnews, 2025