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WHAT’S HAPPENING: Holiday events kick off PAGE 7
What are you thankful for? Press Publications invited students in the White Bear Lake and Mahtomedi School Districts to create their own front page in honor of Thanksgiving. Learn more
about the students, what they are thankful for and what they plan to make for Thanksgiving. SEE THANKSGIVING, PAGE 22
Lake Avenue dog beach future up in air, again BY SHANNON GRANHOLM MANAGING EDITOR
WHITE BEAR LAKE — Whether the city should continue to offer a dog beach in 2025 will be determined early next year. The Lake Avenue dog park was approved in 2007. It's located between Sixth and Seventh Streets and is accessed by stairs from the Mark Sather Trail. Dating back to 2016, there have been several discussions and debates as to whether the dog beach should close. At the request of City Manager Lindy Crawford, the Park Advisory Commission was tasked with making several visits to the dog beach
and gathering data about what sort of impacts the recent improvements have had, if any. “We were asked to provide an update along with any proposed changes for 2025,” said Parks Advisory Chair Bill Ganzlin. In February 2023, the council approved improvements for the dog beach, including better signage stating that dogs must be leashed; a permanent fence between the dog beach and swim dock; a buoy system to separate the two beaches; and gates at the top of stairs accessing the beach from Lake Avenue. Over the last two years, Ganzlin explained, park
commission members have made approximately 100 visits to the dog beach. “Our observations were mainly positive this summer,” he said. In general, he noted dog owners, and their dogs, were wellbehaved, and that dog owners kept dogs “in good control” while using the park. Overall, he said the buoy seemed to work, as only one incident was witnessed where a dog tried to cross the buoy and enter the swimming area. “There were only a few instances where a dog mess wasn’t cleaned up,” Ganzlin recalled. From June 1 to Sept. 12, 10 police calls were made regarding the dog beach
— one lost dog report, one barking complaint and eight off-leash reports.
“The actual policy of having dogs onleash at the dog beach doesn’t follow the city’s ordinance,” Bill Ganzlin Parks Advisory Chair Ganzlin said Police Chief Dale Hager also indicated that city ordinance allows dogs to be off-leash in designated areas. “The actual policy of having dogs on-
leash at the dog beach doesn’t follow the city’s ordinance,” he explained, adding that it made it difficult for police to enforce the on-leash rule. Some complaints from nearby residents on Lake Avenue were also received, mainly related to dogs being off-leash or barking. Ganzlin said there were also some concerns relating to dog beach users parking along the neighborhood streets and letting their dogs out of the car before leashing them up. Over the summer, city staff tested the water 11 times, and all of the tests showed “very little” presence of E. coli. “There were no advisories or SEE DOG BEACH, PAGE 24
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