Could Shuttered Runway Dog Park Be Replaced?

Runway Dog Park. Photo courtesy of Milwaukee County Parks.

In 2022, Milwaukee County Parks was forced to shut down the largest off-leash dog park in in the county.

Called Runway Dog Park, it was closed because it was too close to an actual runway. Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport was notified by the Federal Aviation Administration that the dog park maintained on its property by Parks violated federal rules regarding airport land use.

“Continued use of a dog area on airport property would jeopardize millions of dollars in federal airport funding,” a spokesperson for the airport told Urban Milwaukee at the time.

The 26-acre dog park was massively popular, especially among residents on the south side of the county. For 15 years dogs and their owners used the park. Now county supervisors from the South Side are pushing the creation of a new dog park to replace it.

Sup. Ryan Clancy has authored a resolution that would give Parks $75,000 to plan and design a new dog park. County Executive David Crowley‘s 2023 budget already included funding to review potential sites for a replacement park.

Dog parks are one of the top issues Clancy hears about from constituents, he told Urban Milwaukee. “I probably have 100 constituent contacts over the years about dog parks,” he said.

Clancy said there are many constituents in his district, which encompasses the southeast corner of the City of Milwaukee, and across the county who count on dog parks for the quality of life of their pets and themselves. “We definitely need to invest more in those things that make a big quality-of-life difference to folks,” Clancy said. “And there really isn’t any kind of private replacement for that.”

Based on all he’s heard from constituents, Clancy said he hopes Parks can make something “from the ground up” incorporating ideas from frequent dog park users. The supervisor, who isn’t a dog owner, noted that he’s heard that dog parks often get very muddy from all the traffic and have to be temporarily closed to bring the turf back. The idea to use artificial turf or something that will last longer has been suggested to him, he said.

Clancy is joined on the resolution by co-sponsorship from two other south side supervisors: Juan Miguel Martinez and Steven Shea. The county board’s Finance Committee will consider the resolution this month.