San Luis Obispo’s Emerson Park could become the city’s second spot for a dog park, but not all dog owners are happy with the possible change.
“They’re planning to split it right down the middle and turn half of it into a gated dog park, which would mean tearing up half of the grass that currently exists at Emerson Pak and replacing it with pavement and wood chips,” Buchon Street resident Carla Cary said. “I think we need more green in San Luis Obispo, not less green.”
Cary has been living in the neighborhood for a decade. Her proximity to Emerson Park and its facilities means every day looks different. She walks her dog, tends to her plot in the community garden, picnics, plays lawn games, and catches up with her neighbors.
Those days could possibly transform in 2027 if all parts of the park project are greenlit.
With the help of a $2.8 million California State Parks Proposition 68 grant that SLO received in 2021, the city plans to add restrooms, water stations, safety and walkway lighting, new blacktop surfacing and seating area pathways, an instructional and educational garden zone, a redesigned and expanded playground, and an upgraded basketball court.
But it’s the planned half-acre fenced dog park for small and large dogs that’s drawn criticism from residents like Cary.
“There can be a lot of issues with reactive dogs, and people oftentimes can bring their dogs there and they don’t actually leash-train them or watch them,” she said. “We don’t go to gated dog parks anymore because my dog, he’s very docile, but he’s been attacked.”
Cary’s also concerned about the potential dog park exacerbating parking availability in the area that already shrinks every Thursday during the downtown farmers market.
Parking is on another Emerson visitor’s mind too. She requested anonymity and spoke to New Times while she was walking her dog.
“Anything that takes away grass space, I don’t think we should do,” she said. “I like this lot you can park in. This is one of the few lots that has parking spots in the shade.”
However, the SLO resident added that Emerson Park could be the best area for a dog park because she found the city’s only other dog park at Laguna Lake too small for her husky. Plus, there are several grass-filled parks in the area.
“I’m not against the homeless people in Mitchell Park, but he [her dog] barks at them,” she said. “The other parks are right near elementary schools. They already have their own fields, so why take up a big chunk of [park] fields?”
Peg Pinard, former 3rd District SLO County supervisor and SLO mayor, took to the Nextdoor app to complain about the park renovation project. She urged constituents to contact the City Council before it’s “a done deal.”
“Emerson Park has the only field within walking distance in our neighborhood. It’s where kids (and everyone else) can run around, play soccer, softball, etc.,” she posted on Oct. 29. “Every mental health study speaks to the importance of having open space for kids to run around—needed even more as our neighborhood gets more densely populated. Am I alone in thinking taking away the neighborhood’s only playing field is a bad idea?”
City Parks and Recreation Director Greg Avakian told New Times that Emerson Park is due for an update since the last set of major improvements took place roughly 20 years ago. The most recent change happened in 2022 when the fitness equipment got a makeover using grant money from the California Parks and Recreation Society.
“The portion of the turf area that’s currently at Emerson Park is in really bad shape—it doesn’t have good irrigation and it’s not a regulation athletic field,” Avakian said. “Because it used to be a school site, it was more like a PE or just outdoor area to run around.”
Emerson Elementary School used to sit at 1341 Nipomo St. until 1983. The land was converted into the park after the school shuttered and the building was demolished.
Avakian said that Parks and Rec staff is concerned about the loss of field space to make way for the dog park, but they hope that bigger and better fields are on the horizon for the community thanks to two proposed parks—Righetti Community Park and Avila Ranch Park.
Until then, he recommended people enjoy the grassy outdoors at Meadow Park and Santa Rosa Park.
“Currently, we do have a lot of people who utilize this current Emerson grass area as a dog area,” he said. “Off-leash dogs run around out there despite the municipal code and the county code saying you’re not supposed to have dogs off leash, and there’s no fenced area to make it safe. … That’s the one reason we moved forward with the Laguna Lake Dog Park improvements that just opened up.”
After years of multiple virtual and in-person community forums, including online and physical surveys sent to residents living within 300 feet of the park, the city is done with rounds of public engagement, according to Avakian.
The project will go before the City Council next year for the request for construction proposals process. Parks and Rec anticipates that the new park will be open to the public in early 2027.
With costs escalating, the project now has a price tag closer to $3.5 million. The city plans to close the funding gap by drawing $1 million from the Park Improvement Fund.
For Friends of SLO City Dog Parks, Emerson getting a dog park is the culmination of a long effort.
“There’s no other place for dogs to go currently downtown,” Friends President John McKenzie said. “There are many other places where people can enjoy green, grassy areas, even though it may be further away, but still within walking distance.”
Friends came into existence during the pandemic when a group of concerned dog owners found out that city was updating its Park and Recreation Element and that the old version simply said that dog parks were an unmet need.
Since then, the 170-member nonprofit has been advocating for a safe, clean, off-leash enclosed dog park. Some of the money it raised through fundraisers went into building agility equipment at Laguna Lake Dog Park. Their advocacy also resulted in a half-acre lot being conceptually approved for a dog park at the proposed Righetti Community Park, according to McKenzie.
“If our group hadn’t gotten involved in the Parks and Rec plan, we still would have no dog parks in the city of San Luis Obispo,” he said. “They also recognized my mention of the fact that one sixth of all tourists that travel in their car are taking their dogs with them. They’re always looking for places where they can take their dogs, whether it be a hotel or out and about. Having enclosed dog parks is a draw in that way as well.” ∆
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Nov 6-16, 2025.
Putting a Dog park in the middle of Downtown is an absurd idea and blatantly disrespectful to residents. I am an old town resident and dog owner, but this is not where you put a dog park. Quite simply, it’s putting dogs before kids. I adamantly opposed and will join whatever fight there is to fight