Victoria postpones talks about new off-leash dog parks to 2023

A dog is pictured running in Victoria, B.C. (CTV News)

Plans to create new off-leash dog parks in the City of Victoria are being put on pause.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps says several motions have been brought forward to explore a handful of city parks as potential sites for new dog parks.

Those ideas won't go ahead right now, however, because the city’s current five-year budget already calls for a comprehensive review of dogs in parks next year, according to Helps.

That includes the motion that came up last week that proposes using a portion of Royal Athletic Park for four-legged companions when the HarbourCats baseball team isn't playing.

But Helps adds that right now just isn’t the right time.

"When we got to three motions for different parks, my thinking is good governance means let’s do it when we’re supposed to rather than all of these one-offs," said Helps.

"It’s already in the work plan for next year," she said. "We’ve got a ton of work for staff to do this year. We want that work done, so the thinking is let’s put all of those things forward to next year when we’re supposed to be discussing it anyways."

The existing motions to add off-leash dog areas to parks will be forwarded to the next elected city council for consideration in 2023.