Dundas gets city-run dog park in exchange

By Richard Leitner, News Staff

The Hamilton Conservation Authority is moving its construction crew and heavy equipment out of the Dundas Valley to a former municipal works yard in Millgrove as part of a reciprocal agreement with the city that should make dogs jump for joy.

The exchange will see the authority lease the mothballed yard on Fifth Concession Road West while granting the city use of the maintained portion of the Borer’s Falls Conservation Area in Dundas for a leash-free dog park.

Both leases are for $2 per year for 20 years.

Chief administrative officer Chris Firth-Eagland called the works yard relocation a “win-win” deal for the authority and city.

The move not only aligns nicely with the authority’s 50-year vision for the valley by reducing the ecological footprint of its Woodend headquarters in Ancaster, he said, but makes good use of the Millgrove yard, shut down shortly after amalgamation.

Firth-Eagland said about a dozen employees will work out of the yard, which is more centrally located, offers easier access to highways and will include mechanical and carpentry shops presently housed in a converted barn at Woodend.

He said the Millgrove yard and its eight-bay building will be spruced up to “put some sparkle back into it.”

“Our big trucks and stuff aren’t really suitable to the natural heritage and cultural heritage aspects of Mineral Springs Road,” Firth-Eagland said of the existing location.

“It’s really not that effective for us to be hauling our trucks and trailers through these small, winding roads.”

Firth-Eagland said the leash park will be located on the “flat lands” at Borer’s Falls Conservation Authority by the parking lot at Hopkins Corners – about 0.9 hectares or 2.2 acres.

“It’s not any of the natural-environment areas or the forested area down below,” he said of the lease deal, approved by authority directors at their March 4 meeting.