Dog May Be Man's Best Friend But Fido is Still Barred from Hinsdale Parks

At least for now, dogs are still barred from Hinsdale parks.

“We’re open to reconsidering it,” said Jeff Curran, chairman of the Hinsdale Park and Recreation Commission, Monday after commission members reached a consensus to leave the policy as is.

The only park that allows dogs—with some restrictions—is Katherine Legge Memorial Park. Dogs on *leashes are allowed at specific times, which change according to the time of year.

Parks and Recreation Director Gina Hassett told the commission that the Village Board’s Administration and Community Affairs Committee (ACA) had asked for the policy review. ACA Chairman Doug Geoga attended the commission meeting.

“This is an issue important to [ACA] Trustee [Bob] Schultz,” he said. “He has a particular viewpoint on the subject.”

Schultz has publicly expressed his support for allowing dogs in the park on leashes.

However, commissioners raised a number of concerns about changing the policy, including liability issues, reaction of small children on playgrounds and confusion with the policies of organizations that use Hinsdale parks, such as the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO).

Hassett noted that AYSO doesn’t allow dogs at games or practices, but “they can’t stop Joe Smith from walking through the park with a dog on a leash.”

As it stands now, the AYSO doesn’t have to worry about that scenario.

“You can’t walk through Burlington Park. You can’t walk through Veeck Park, even if they’re on a leash,” Hassett said.

That doesn’t mean everyone follows the rules.

“There’s a whole crew at Burns [Field] that walks morning and night,” observed Commissioner William Otto.

Waste management

Hassett said there also have been problems with dog owners allowing dogs to run on the tennis courts at Burns in the winter and not picking up their waste, “even though there are signs on them that say dogs aren’t allowed.”

However, Hassett said she didn’t know if changing the policy to allow dogs in the parks would create more waste problems.

“If there’s already a lot of waste on the tennis courts, clearly they’re not cleaning up after them [their dogs],” Commissioner MaryBeth Dougherty said.

Commissioner Kathleen Mulligan expressed reservations about dogs on playgrounds.

“For people who have young kids, I think that would be problematic,” she said.

Policies in neighboring communities differ. Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills and Darien allow dogs on leashes in parks. Oak Brook and La Grange do not.

Only five commissioners braved the icy conditions to attend the meeting. Commissioners John Deppe, Diane Griffin, Ed McCarthy and Ed Opler were absent.

*An earlier version of this article contained a typo, so that this sentence read, "Dogs on leases," which obviously is not the case unless someone happens to be renting their dog. Many thanks to reader Susan Smith for noticing the typo.