Picture-perfect parkland near Honeysett View, Kingston Foreshore, but puppies were (technically) prohibited. Photo: Gloria Newlyn.
The government has stepped in to put a long-running saga about dog-walking on the Kingston Foreshore to rest after years of confusion.
A small parkland between Honeysett View and Lake Burley Griffin has been listed as a dog-prohibited area on the ACT’s dog exercise area maps ever since the Sapphire Apartments went up in 2020.
This technically meant no dogs were allowed there, leash or no leash.
But because it appeared as any other Canberra park, where dogs are allowed provided they’re on a leash, plenty of residents have been treating it like one. The result has been chaos. And plenty of fights.
“More and more people started to gather as an informal sort of dog group, and we’d have 15 or so dogs gathered in the park, all off the lead,” a nearby resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Region.
“So we had a situation where … you’ve got cyclists trying to get through there, you’ve got people walking, grandmas with kids, mums with prams, and all these dogs just running around like crazy.
“It was reported to us one day that there was a guy on a bike who had to stop because he had seven dogs chasing him.”
The park was designated a big red no-go zone for dogs before residential development came along due to its proximity to the Jerrabomberra Wetlands and the local wildlife there.
A notice about the change was issued to nearby residents. Photo: ACT Government.
As part of an agreement with the ACT Government, Sapphire developed it into a public park, but it seems the rules weren’t updated to match.
It took a post to the ‘Kingston & Barton Residents Group’ on Facebook in early June to trigger an official change when the owner of a Labrador complained about how other dog owners were letting their dogs off the leash in what is “not an off-leash area”.
“I’m finding this to be really challenging, and I’m really unsure why people feel entitled to have their dogs off-leash,” the post read.
The parkland was officially changed from a dog-prohibited area to a dog-on-lead area on 19 July in a raft of updates to the ACT’s dog area exercise maps, most of which have remained untouched since 2021.
“The ACT Government updated dog exercise area maps for the ACT to ensure accuracy, reflect land use changes over time and improve consistency in areas where dogs can be exercised on-leash and off-leash and areas where dogs are prohibited,” a spokesperson told Region.
“The change at Kingston Foreshore means neighbouring residents can now take their dogs for a walk without having to pass through a dog-prohibited area when leaving their apartments.”
Other areas to be updated include the new suburb of Whitlam in the Molonglo Valley, previously off limits to dogs prior to development, and now a dog on-leash area to be “consistent with other suburbs across Canberra”.
The southern end of Glebe Park, bound by Glebe Park Apartments and Coranderrk Street, also changed from a dog-prohibited area to a dog on-leash area, giving city residents “access to more green space near their homes to take their dogs for a walk”.
“Nature reserve borders have also been updated across the ACT as there were inaccuracies between actual nature reserve borders and the areas designated as nature reserves on the dog exercise maps,” the spokesperson added.
The government has issued notices to nearby residents and installed temporary signage at the public spaces “to advise users of the changes”.
The Kingston Foreshore resident welcomed the rule update for an area that’s “really popular for dogs and dog-walking”.
“The bottom line is, it was never going to be an off-lead park; it’s just that the government finally got around to updating the rules.”
You can view all on-leash, off-leash, conditional off-leash and dog-prohibited areas on ACTmapi’s dog exercise area map.
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