MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — A sign posted on a billboard was the only way that Central Texas found out about the HOT Dog Park on Steinbeck Road was locking its gates.
It’s one of the only dog parks in Waco, so it left several people disappointed and with nowhere else to take their pups.
- More than 100 families will no longer be able to take their dog to the HOT Dog Park in Waco after it abruptly closed Monday
- The land the park sits on was owned by Dr. LuAnn Ervin — she developed the park in 2011, and maintained it until 2020 when a group of volunteers took over to keep the park open
- The HOT Dog Park committee has formed a petition to show the City of Waco the desire for a local dog park from local residents
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“I don’t really know a lot of people down here, so this has become kind of my community — I do school online, so I don’t really get out of my house a lot,” said Haley Lay, Communications Director for the HOT Dog Park board.
What was once a community for Lay and her dog to socialize and make new friends, has now become a closed space no longer open to the public.
“Up until the gates were locked, they were still telling people it could be a prank,” she said.
It was a reality that came without warning — there was previously planned maintenance meant to happen Wednesday night.
The board also just installed a 500-gallon water tank with volunteer funds to ensure the pups had water.
Lay lives in Hewitt, and has driven out to HOT Dog Park Waco for the past two years.
She’s also a member of the board for the volunteer-run park, so when she heard about the sign posted on the parks bulletin, she thought of the 100 plus families who use that park each week.
“It means that there’s no longer an option for hundreds of dog owners, anywhere in Waco, for them to take their pets," Lay said.
"There are two small parks in Woodway, that are less than half an acre each — they’re very small, one of them is privately owned, so it just means that we have no other option, really."
The land the park sits on was owned by Dr. LuAnn Ervin, who developed the park in 2011, and maintained it until 2020 when a group of volunteers took over to keep the park open.
The board has reached out to Dr. Ervin about the park and who now owns the land, but they haven’t heard back, so they’re taking matter into their own hands.
“Our plan is to transition into a public action committee so we can kind of lead the charge to get the City of Waco or the Waco community to develop a new dog park — if we’re unable to do that we’ll have a dissolve the board,” Lay said.
The HOT Dog Park committee has formed a petition to show the City of Waco the desire for a local dog park from local residents. That petition is here.
Parks and Recreation Director Jonathan Cook responded to 25 News' questions asking about a potential city dog park saying:
"We have been made aware of the closing of the HOT Dog Park — this was a privately managed area that was on private property. It was not part of the city’s parks portfolio. At this point, we are focused on our current funded projects that are underway. We will continue to work with the community and evaluate recreational needs for future projects."
The HOT Dog Park Board released this statement,
"On Sunday, September 8th we were unfortunately informed by a flier on our gate that the property we've known as HOT Dog Park had been sold. This has since been confirmed and as of the evening of September 9, the park gates are officially locked and closed to the public. While we've always known the sale of the property was a possibility, we as a board were unaware of its imminence."
The park was developed in 2011 by the owner, Dr. LuAnn Ervin, and maintained at her expense until January 2020 when she left Waco. Since then, she has graciously allowed a volunteer board of directors to operate it in her absence. For the past 13 years, Dr. Ervin has freely supplied the city of Waco with a big, beautiful park where many happy memories have been made. That is something we will forever be grateful for as dog lovers.
We would also like to say a sincere thank you to our HOT Dog Park community for keeping the gates open through volunteer work and donations over the past several years. It would not have been possible without you. We understand this is a devastating loss to the dog community in Waco as this was the biggest dog park used by hundreds of families every week. HOT Dog Park as an entity is not just this piece of property though - we are a group of dog lovers and volunteers. Going forward the HOT Dog Park Waco Board plans to transition into a community action group. We hope to work with the Waco community to develop a new place for our dogs to run and play.
For the time being know that we are making inquiries and following leads in the hopes of developing a new dog park to fill the large gap the closing of HOT Dog Park has surely left in the Waco community. We will be in contact with the City of Waco and plan to attend upcoming city council meetings. We invite you to join us there!
We also hope you will help show our city government how important a dog park is to our community by signing our petition at www.change.org/p/urge-city-of-waco-to-establish-a-public-dog-park In addition to petitioning the City of Waco, we are looking for any land that could be donated to be transformed into a new park. If you have any information about viable land please email us.
Though we remain hopeful, if we are unable to establish a new dog park in Waco, we intend to dissolve our board of volunteers and donate our funds to a canine charity. Make sure to follow us on social media at @hotdogparkwaco on both Facebook and Instagram for updates going forward! Thank you again to our HOT Dog Park Waco community! hotdogparkboard@gmail.com - The HOT Dog Park Volunteer Board."
