Live For Buzz

East Atlantans love dogs. The Buzz is full of people who are really passionate about the critters, including several people who run rescues, many folks who have taken in more than a couple of shelter dogs and more than a few who absolutely consider their dogs to be their children. We have walkable streets, plenty of greenery, a commercial village where businesses leave water out in bowls, a big park and other factors that make dog walks fun for critters and their owners.

And we have a dog park. Sort of. But not really.

Before I started the Buzz two years ago, I had figured out that this vacant lot being used by Kingfisher Academy on Flat Shoals Avenue as a playground made an excellent space to let my dogs run free. Owned by Georgia Power and serving as a path for power lines, the lot is big, open and fenced.

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Kingfisher had rights to use it, and they welcomed the neighborhood to use it as well. All they asked is that you pick up after yourself (especially if you brought a dog). It was a secret dog park right in the Village.

I mentioned the Kingfisher spot early on after the Buzz was launched, and dog lovers soon organized meet-ups on Sunday mornings and Thursday afternoons at the “dog park”. Those events have been about as important as drinking nights in terms of Buzzers meeting their neighbors and building community around here.

But then Kingfisher moved and their playground became just another vacant lot - apparently leased from Georgia Power by Inman Park Properties. No longer officially welcomed by the group controlling the space, Dog Park Sundays and Dog Park Thursdays have nonetheless continued.

Those days, however, are now numbered. Word was given at the neighborhood association meeting this week that the lot will soon be turned in to parking for several businesses that have or will open up on Flat Shoals south of Glenwood. This summer the Ice House will open in the old Echo Lounge space, a bakery is opening in the beige building you see on the left of the StreetView image above, and The Midway could probably use more parking as well.

It’s hard to argue against adding more parking when new businesses are opening, but it will be very sad to see the “dog park” go away. We were lucky to have this spot for a couple of years, but its disappearance will underscore the need for and lack of an official dog park in East Atlanta.

There is plenty of room for a dog park in the city-owned Brownwood Park, but attempts to include a dog-park area in the park’s development plan were shot down by residents who live adjacent to or nearby the park. It seems the potential for noise, “traffic” and other undesirable changes didn’t sit well with people who would rather others not use the city-owned property their homes happen to sit next to.

A “commercial” dog park is an unlikely development, though a business like Park Grounds (a coffee shop with a dog area out back) would draw a lot of customers around here. Nothing like that appears on the horizon for East Atlanta, however.

So we’re left with a doomed unofficial dog park, little hope for a dog-park area within our neighborhood park and no good prospects on the private front. Buzzers are going to try to work the different angles to come up with a solution, but the options aren’t strong right now.

On EAV Buzz: Bad news for the dog park