Waco Lost Its Dog Park. Does the City Need to Replace It?

Waco lost its only dog park. Nobody's replaced it.
Like a college kid whose landlord just sold the house out from under him, Waco's dog owners got a closure notice and nowhere to go.

H.O.T. Dog Park, the city's only large-scale off-leash space, shut down on September 9, 2024, after the private owner sold the land. Two years later, Waco still doesn't have a replacement.

Here's the part people sometimes miss: H.O.T. was never a City of Waco facility. It operated on private land beginning in 2011, with volunteers helping keep it going. That worked until the property changed hands, and a private amenity that had become part of life for a lot of Waco dog owners disappeared.

Since then, owners have improvised. Some drive to Woodway. Some use Holly Dog Park. Cameron Park has plenty of trails, but a leashed walk is a different experience from letting a dog run around a fenced space with other dogs.

I've heard about it enough that I started looking into what happened. Then I started wondering about something bigger:

Does Waco actually need a dog park?

Walking a dog isn't the same as running one

If you have a fenced backyard, you might reasonably wonder why the city should dedicate valuable parkland to dogs. Waco isn't New York. Plenty of people here have yards and some dogs are perfectly happy walking the neighborhood and chasing a ball in the backyard.

A dog park isn't a basic municipal necessity. It can still serve a purpose, especially for people living in apartments, homes without fenced yards, or places where dogs don't have much room to run.

There is also the community piece.

You take your dog somewhere to run, and you end up talking to the person next to you. You see the same people on Saturday mornings. You learn someone's dog's name before you learn their last name.

That's a small thing, but small things are often what make a city feel like a community. Monroe County, New York, which operates three county dog parks, specifically points to community-building as one benefit of its parks.

That doesn't mean every Wacoan needs one. It does mean the question is bigger than whether someone's Labrador needs somewhere to sprint.

The City has a plan for a lot of parks
Waco isn't ignoring parks. The City is investing in them.

Alice Martinez Rodriguez Park is a $25.3 million project. China Spring Park has a roughly $7.2 million project budget, while Chapel Park and Austin Avenue Pocket Park are budgeted at roughly $850,000 and $709,000. The City's FY2026 budget also identifies $15 million for parks and recreation facility upgrades within a $134.2 million citywide capital improvement program.

A dog park isn't part of those current projects.

That doesn't necessarily mean Waco should build one. It does make the question more interesting: if the city is already investing heavily in public parks, is an off-leash area something residents want enough to include in that conversation?

We've actually already drawn one

Waco doesn't even need to find a site from scratch. Back in 2023, the City held public meetings on redeveloping Lions Park, and two of the four concept plans on display included a labeled dog park. Residents asked for it by name. The larger Lions Park redevelopment didn't become the quick replacement for H.O.T. that some dog owners may have hoped for, and the dog park idea didn't move forward with it. The drawings exist. Nobody's picked them back up.

Other cities have already figured this out

Waco doesn't have to foot the entire bill, either. Milwaukee County charges dog owners $35 a year for park access, licensing and vaccination required. Monroe County, New York, runs a similar permit system and starts a new rate this October. A $25-to-$40 annual supporter pass here could cover water, repairs, and upgrades without turning a public park into a country club.

There's even a business hiding in this. A company called Dog PPL runs members-only dog parks with a cafe, staff supervision, and vaccine screening built in, memberships start at $130 a month in Santa Monica. Waco doesn't need that exact model, but if you own a few open acres and you've watched this demand go unmet for two years, there's an opening. Lease the land to the City. Sell it. Partner with a nonprofit. Or build the private version yourself and charge for it.

The bigger question is whether Waco would actually use it

This is the part I'm most curious about.

If Waco built a nice dog park tomorrow, would it actually get used? Maybe constantly. Maybe there are enough apartment dwellers, people without fenced yards, new residents and dog owners who want a place to socialize that it becomes one of the City's most-used small parks.

Maybe the demand isn't nearly that high.

That's why I don't think the argument should be that every city needs a dog park. The question is whether Waco has enough demand for one to make the land and ongoing maintenance worthwhile.

The good news is that we could probably find out before spending much money.

Ask dog owners. Look at how busy the existing private options are. Ask whether people would pay an annual permit. Ask whether veterinarians and pet businesses would contribute. Ask whether somebody would actually operate a private version.

If the demand is there, maybe Waco should revisit the idea. If it isn't, that's useful to know, too.

So I'm curious: If Waco built a clean, well-maintained dog park, would you actually use it? Would you pay an annual fee to help maintain it? Should the City revisit the Lions Park idea, or would a smaller neighborhood site make more sense? If you're a vet, landowner, pet business, nonprofit or dog owner with an idea, I'd love to hear it.