About Us

On July 27, 2002 the dog park officially opened for a one-year trial basis. This was the result of 6 years of hard work by Bev Ross and Lisa Seiler, the founding members of Friends of Carmel Valley Dog Park, and some dozen or so others who joined in the efforts.

In June, the Carmel Valley Community Planning Board recommended to the City Council that the Dog Park be made permanent, subject to some conditions to be met by the User Group (that's us.) This issue will come before the City Council in August, 2004 at which time the Park will be officially permanent.

The dog park history dates back to 1997, when a group of Carmel Valley dog owners met to discuss the formation of an off-leash recreation area. The group gave a formal presentation to the Carmel Valley Community Planning Board and nearly 2 years later the San Diego City Council unanimously adopted a policy for designating leash-free areas for dogs in existing parks.

Over the next few years, work included choosing the proper place for the dog park. Several locations were discussed and initially the off-leash area was to be at the Renaissance Park North. Subsequently, it became clear that the better choice was Torrey Highlands Park. Dog park supporters worked closely with regular users of the Park to determine the space needed for soccer; the space remaining, then, could be designated an off-leash area. The Carmel Valley Planning Board approved the off-leash dog area in November 2001.

In October we decided to form an Association to raise money for Park improvements, allying ourselves with a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization to facilitate our fund raising activities. We are now officially known as Friends of Torrey Highlands Dogs.

Over the past 24 months, it's become apparent that an enormous bunch of people and their dogs are enjoying the Park on a regular basis. Besides this web site we have a regular Newsletter (see News,) enjoyed by a documented list of some 250 families who use the park to give their dogs quality off-leash time!