About this reply
- From
- Maureen Wilson, Councillor, Ward 1, City of Hamilton
- Date
- September 17, 2026, 1:36 p.m. Eastern
- Subject
- RE: Hill Street Park dog area — concept drawing date and as-built request (Case ID: 898321)
- Attachment
- Hill Street Dog Park – Area As-Built (PDF) →
Transcription
Good afternoon.
I received requests for a small breed dog park during the 2018 municipal election campaign.
Contact was made with the Ward 1 office during my second term with the same request and I was apprised that organizers were wishing to enact a petition to gather signatures for such a dog park. I sought insight from City staff as to whether a small breed section could be accommodated in the existing Hill Street Dog Park in advance of their petition efforts and subsequently confirmed with the organizers that it could. Thereafter, they commenced their petition. As is their right. I think this is the map you are referring to. The original drawing that was shared was the proposed layout used for the basis of design. As you know, most capital works begin with a preliminary design, followed by a final design informed by full site inspection for things like tree drip lines and sub surface infrastructure like gas lines. When on-site with the contractor, City staff determined that the fence alignment would change marginally. Specifically, there was a buried gas line that required the minor fence adjustment.
Preliminary design:
- Small Dog Area0.26 acres = 25% of the total area
- Large Dog Area0.80 acres = 75% of the total area
As-Built:
- Small Dog Area0.30 acres = 30% of the total area
- Large Dog Area0.71 acres = 70% of the total area
With thanks,
Maureen Wilson
What the drawing shows
The attached drawing (Drawing No. L1, Contract No. CPON01203, “HILL STREET DOG PARK – Fence Installation,” Public Works Department, marked As-Built) labels the small-dog area 0.30 acres (1,232 m²) and the large-dog/main area 0.71 acres (2,868 m²), for a total of 4,100 m². Its title block reads August 19, 2026. It shows a scale and area labels, but no labelled gas-line location, fence-length dimensions or explicit field-survey method.
Source label used throughout the site for these figures: City-stated as-built areas, supplied September 17, 2026; measurement method not independently verified by the Coalition. They are not presented as an independent survey or as definitively verified.
| Source | Small area | Main area | Total | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary/reference drawing | 0.26 acres | 0.80 acres | 1.06 acres | Approx. 24.5% / 75.5% |
| September 17 as-built drawing, rounded acre labels | 0.30 acres | 0.71 acres | 1.01 acres | City describes approx. 30% / 70% |
| Same as-built drawing, square-metre labels | 1,232 m² | 2,868 m² | 4,100 m² | Approx. 30.05% / 69.95% |
An unresolved 0.05-acre discrepancy: the preliminary and as-built totals round to different figures (1.06 vs. 1.01 acres). Moving only the internal divider would not change the outer enclosed total, so this is not evidence that physical land disappeared. Whether it reflects different boundaries, exclusions, measurement methods, or rounding hasn't been established, and the coalition isn't choosing an explanation without evidence.
The coalition welcomes this additional information. Questions that remain open: the basis for selecting this size and layout, whether users of both areas were consulted before construction, the measurement method behind the as-built figures, and the 0.05-acre difference between the preliminary and as-built totals.
See both drawings
Because the two drawings differ, the coalition is keeping both public rather than treating the newer one as a simple replacement.