Fur flies at Pierrefonds meeting

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

Tempers flared at a Pierrefonds town meeting Monday night as about 20 residents presented an 80-strong petition to ban a proposed dog run in Villeret Park on the corner of Rivau and Meloche streets.

"I don't think I trust you with the original," resident Teresa Ruggi told council as she handed them a copy of the petition.

At the centre of the issue is an online group called the Pierrefonds Offleash Dog Recreation Meetup Group. Run by Mike Trainor, their website suggests that the approval of a dog run is a fait accompli thanks to Ward, and would be finalized at the November 5 meeting.

"It is not a fait accompli," borough mayor Monique Worth explained to the emotional crowd at the meeting. "We have to consider these people too because they are residents," she said of those who pressed for the run.

According to the website, however, 23 of the 48 group members are not from the West Island, ranging from locations such as St. Lazare to Plattsburgh, NY. "Why are these people controlling my life?" asked Rivau resident Paul Cavaliere, who said he found out about the proposed run purely by accident while walking his own dog Saturday evening.

Cavaliere said that Simon Frankel, who presented himself as the group's secretary, ran into him and told him about the upcoming dog run. Worried about the proposal, Cavaliere spoke to some of his neighbours. On Sunday, they managed to have 80 residents of the area around the park sign a petition.

At the meeting, Philip Ruggi read a statement on behalf of the residents. He said he was not opposed to the idea of a dog run, but that "it was too close to residential properties," and potentially harmful to children in nearby playgrounds in the same park. Ruggi also raised concerns on smell, noise and additional traffic.

Worth replied that the original reason why council considered the proposal was that a similar project in Brooke Park ended up really well. "No noise, no smell, no traffic," she said.

According to a Pierrefonds borough document posted on Trainor's website, the dog run would cost a total of $35,000. A fence would block it off from the rest of the park, and the grass would be replaced by small, round pebbles to lessen the odor problem. The upkeep of the run would be the responsibility of the offleash group.

Council reassured the residents opposed to the run that they would go over the petition and get back to them by the end of the week. Trainor could not be reached for comment for this story.