'Overwhelming' community support inspires generous offer to see dog park go ahead

One determined Pelican Waters resident is on a mission to help her community have access to a dog park and is shouting it from the ‘wooftops’.

After realising there was more than 30 local parks within the community but no designated off-leash areas, Joey Mogg began petitioning to establish a dog park about nine months ago.

The idea stemmed from noticing how much not having a fenced dog park nearby was affecting her elderly mother, her neighbours and other community members who weren’t able to give their pooches the “run” they needed.

Mrs Mogg has since walked about 66km and letterbox-dropped more than 2000 flyers to gain support from local residents and submit the petition to the Sunshine Coast Council.

“It has got to the point where my husband and I are in the financial position and are happy to foot the bill of the fencing for the dog park, if it ends up being rejected by the council due to a budgeting issue,” Mrs Mogg said.

“We’ve come this far … we’d really like to see it happen.”

She said that by the end of 2031 the Coast is estimated to have 90,000 dogs within the community and Pelican Waters would be a big part of those numbers.

“As Pelican Waters hosts a mature, older age demographic, having a local and safe place for their dogs to socialise and play would be hugely beneficial,” she said.

“We are a big area and there are a lot of people who have dogs. I reckon about 70 to 80 per cent of houses have a dog, if not two.”

While there is an off-leash area opposite the Power Boat Club at Golden Beach, Mrs Mogg said it was not safe as the area was not fenced.

“Aroona and Birtinya have enclosed off-leash parks but they can be in excess of a 20-minute drive for some of our residents,” she said.

The Pelican Waters dog park petition now has more than 1000 signatures and is ready to submit to the council.

She described the response and the backing from the Pelican Waters community as “overwhelming”

“I love the response from the community, that’s been my motivation,” she said.

“It has made me so happy, that this does actually have legs and the community is behind it.”

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Mrs Mogg has been invited to send the petition to Division 2 Councillor Terry Landsberg.

Cr Landsberg said while he was yet to receive the petition, he was still engaged with council officers regarding several locations for a fenced dog park.

“However, more community consultation will be needed before any decision is made,” Cr Landsberg said.

“Once I have received the petition, it will be lodged with council through the Ordinary Meeting process.”

Mrs Mogg said if the dog park didn’t go ahead she would keep pushing for the community.

“I don’t understand why it can’t happen. If I get a clear understanding and it make sense, then okay,” she said.

“We could turn one of the parks we already have into a dog park.

“If it doesn’t go ahead I will be disappointed, along with a lot of others, but I’m not thinking like that – I am a positive person and if you put something out there there should be no reason that it shouldn’t come into fruition.

“I don’t want to be in a position where I’m going up against the council and I want to work with them. It is not too much to ask, we have all the land for it, it’s just a matter of changing the rules and putting a fence up.”

Mrs Mogg’s petition comes as Sunshine Coast Council is calling for public feedback on 13 proposed changes to local laws.

Outstanding Organisation Portfolio Councillor Ted Hungerford said local laws helped to ensure safety, harmony and good rule within the diverse communities of the region.

“Every five years council undertakes a review to determine changes needed to our local laws to ensure they continue to be responsive to the needs of our communities,” he said.

The proposed amendments include:

• creating tiered categories of penalties that would allow flexibility of a lower-cost infringement notice proportionate to the offence;
• creating an extraordinary building work permit for outside standard hours;
• creating a ‘disposal order’ (as an alternative to a destruction order) to include the ability to re-home suitable impounded dogs;
• changing the definition of the management of domestic cats in public places to include the requirement that the cat is restrained on a leash held by a person or restrained to a fixed object (and supervised) or within an enclosure;
• updating maps for exclusion of dogs from specific public places, including in areas to be designated within Muller Park at Bli Bli and the Maleny Showground;
• adding dog off-leash areas for Flintwood Crescent, Palmview; Mapleton Lilyponds; Quota Memorial Park, Nambour; Baringa Forest Park; Annalise Circuit Park, Nirimba; Viridian Circuit Park, Birtinya; and Grand Parade, Parrearra;
• changing the minimum standards required for a dog enclosure;
• increasing the unauthorised disability parking penalty to align with State Government amendments;
• addition of specific offences for disobeying time limits for use of a public pontoon.

Cr Hungerford encouraged residents to take the opportunity to review the the current proposed changes to local laws and subordinate local laws and let council know what they think.

“Council will consider all submissions and feedback received and any formal changes to local laws and subordinate local laws will be made at a future meeting of council,” he said.

An overview of the proposed local law amendments can be found on Sunshine Coast Council’s Have Your Say website.

Community members wishing to comment on the proposed amendments to local laws have until 5pm on March 3 to submit their feedback via the online submission form or by downloading the submission form, completing it and sending it to: The Chief Executive Officer, Sunshine Coast Regional Council, Locked Bag 72, Sunshine Coast Mail Centre QLD 4560.

Following consultation, council will consider all submissions and feedback, and decide on proposed amendments at its ordinary meeting in May 2023.