The Common Law

I live in Central Austin and my kids and I often go to the West Austin Neighborhood Park in Clarksville between 9th and 10th streets. There's a fenced dog-park section of the park where dogs are allowed to be off leash. Recently the rest of the unfenced park green space has been overrun by off-leash dogs. There are often so many off-leash dogs that kids can't play in the green space area. Can a bunch of dog owners just decide to take over the park's green space with off-leash dogs? Is this legal?

No. Austin City Code prohibits unrestrained dogs in this park's unfenced green space area. The dogs in the unfenced green space area must be on a leash and under the dog owner's control. Dog owners cannot unilaterally decide a public park is an off-leash zone.

The city of Austin code that regulates dogs starts with a simple, general rule – a dog owner shall keep the dog under restraint (Austin City Code § 3-4-1). This is typically done by putting the dog on a leash in public. The City Code requires that a person holding a dog on a leash must keep the dog under control at all times.

The City Code does set out several specific public locations where restraint of a dog is not required (A.C.C. § 3-4-4). For example, specific locations at Zilker Park, Auditorium Shores, and Red Bud Isle are off-leash areas. Check out A.C.C. § 3-4-4 for a complete list of off-leash areas. Dogs may also be off leash in areas designated by the director of the Parks and Recreation Department, which allows for off-leash dogs in certain fenced dog-park areas. These areas will have signs that make it clear the city has designated these areas as off-leash.

The West Austin Neighborhood Park in Clarksville is not listed as an off-leash area in the Austin City Code. This means that dogs must be restrained outside of the fenced dog-park section. Hopefully the dog owners will be conscientious and abide by the rules. If not, you and others in the neighborhood that want the off-leash dog activity to stop can call 311 to report the issue.