By Gordon Lambie
Sherbrooke’s City Council discussed plans Monday night to double the number of dog parks in the city following a series of requests from the Rock Forest, Des Nations, and Lennoxville boroughs. Although more consultation and planning is needed before any change is made, the tone of the conversation was generally in favour of increasing the number of such spaces from three to six.
According to Natalie Bourgeois, the Director of the city’s parks and green spaces division, there are 10,500 registered dogs in the city, which has a total population of 170,816. Although the research done by her team puts the current number of parks in Sherbrooke on a par with other cities of a similar size in the province, she acknowledged that in addition to being something that citizens are clearly asking for, a higher number of parks would also make the city a place that is more friendly and inviting to dog owners.