On the evening of July 8, the Westminster City Council voted 5-2 to keep the Westminster Hills Open Space, or WHOS, property open to off-leash dogs for now. The Westminster City Council faced several passionate residents who pleaded for the park to stay open to dogs and other outdoor recreational activities at its current size of over 400 acres.
“This is something all of Denver metro would benefit from. This is something that we have that is unique,” said Westminster business owner AJ Haas during the public comment segment of the city council meeting on Monday. “The entire Denver area is looking at us as an example and what we have done with our community.”
The open space came to be when the land was acquired through 12 different open space purchases beginning in 1988, starting with 400 acres and then expanding to 1,000 acres. Allowing off-leash dogs on the land began in 2000 when the city established a one-year pilot program on 27 acres of the WHOS. After a year, the project was deemed successful, and in 2008, it was extended to 1,000 acres. In 2009, the off-leash area was reduced to its current 470 acres after numerous negative encounters between dogs and coyotes and an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague among prairie dogs.
While it seems that the battle to keep the WHOS open to off-leash dogs started in 2009, things intensified when a Westminster visitor survey in November 2023 showed that the biggest concerns regarding dogs in the open space were soil and water pollution from abandoned dog waste, dog and human conflict, and dog and dog conflict.
On the other hand, the visitor survey also showed that most visitors felt safe in the park and rarely encountered aggressive or inappropriate dog behavior. It also revealed that most would be dissatisfied if the acreage was reduced.
At the city council meeting, many of the attendees voiced that the concerns being presented to the council were things they never saw play out in their park while they were there, including Haas, who said he goes to the park three days a week.
“We don’t see dogs attacking people or chasing bikers. A lot of this is a small voice, people that would like to be heard and that they are important to consider, but I don’t think they are the majority,” Haas said.
Another resident of Westminster, Rachel Alvidrez, said that she is a local nurse practitioner who places a big emphasis on finding ways to manage mental health with the patients she works with.
“This dog park is really a cherished part of this community,” Alvidrez said. “There are not a lot of communities in Denver who have a resource like [the dog park], where pet owners can find a place to be with loved ones, meet with their community, and be with their dogs.”
She continued that dog owners must take responsibility for their pets while using the open space, as most of them do.
“But I really hope that [city council] take into consideration the impact of the mental health benefit that this park has for dog owners as well as for other people that share the park.”
For now, the WHOS will remain its current size, and dogs will be allowed to roam freely as the city looks to develop a maintenance plan that can take up to a year to complete.
“I’ve met people that come all the way from Centennial that come to our Westminster off-leash dog park because it’s so special,” Haas said. “It is something that nowhere else has.”