History of COLA

Citizens for Off-Leash Areas (COLA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was formed to obtain and maintain off-leash dog exercise areas in Seattle. In June 1996 COLA entered into a formal agreement with the City of Seattle to steward Seattle's off-leash areas. In September 1997, the Seattle City Council voted 9-0 to establish permanent off-leash dog areas, giving COLA the responsibility of stewarding the sites for the Department of Parks and Recreation.  This vote was the result of over six years of organizing, planning, and public process in which many hundreds of Seattle citizens attended dozens of meetings and thousands more wrote, faxed, and telephoned the City Council.

The Need for Off-Leash Areas
In the early 1990s, several local citizens identified the need for several sites in Seattle where people could recreate with their off-leash dogs. These tax-paying citizens saw that many of the Seattle Parks have dedicates areas to soccer fields, baseball fields, and other recreational uses. They, and many others, believed that supervised off-leash activity within designated areas was also valid use of public space.

During the summer of 1994, complaints about Animal Control officers - who patrolled in pairs and frequently used the Seattle Police Department for back-up - became a source of concern for the Seattle City Council. Council member Jan Drago stepped forward and began a public process of community involvement that would culminate in the creation of the off-leash areas.

Identifying Potential Sites
The first meeting to determine if there was widespread interest in creating permanent off-leash dog areas was held on October 18 1994. Over 400 Seattleites attended the meeting and divided into 6 subgroups (based on where they lived) to identify potential sites around the city. Over the next six months, these subgroups met and submitted proposals for permanent off-leash areas to Jan Dragos office. The proposals were then sent to a city-wide advisory group consisting of City department staff, canine behavior specialists, members of several local Friends Of groups (i.e. Friends of Discovery and Magnuson Parks), and off-leash advocates. The review group selected the top 38 potential sites based on a variety of criteria, and in the Spring of 1995, City Council staff visited and evaluated these potential off-leash areas along with staff from Parks Department, Seattle Police Department, and several of the city utilities.

A series of public workshops, co-sponsored by City Council, Parks Department and Animal Control was held to discuss the proposals. Over 500 people attended the workshops and nearly 2,000 comment forms and letters were sent to the City Council. After a three and a half hour public meeting held at the Seattle Center, and several heavily-attended hearings at City Council chambers, a 12-month off-leash pilot program began for seven sites geographically distributed throughout the city. The pilot sites were officially opened on June 15, 1996.

How COLA Was Formed
During the evaluation period, several citizens dedicated to creating off-leash areas believed that dog owners needed an organization to work with the City and maintain long-term stability for the off-leash program. Citizens for Off-Leash Areas (COLA) was formed in February 1995 by tax-paying citizens seeking permanent off-leash recreational access in some of Seattles nearly 400 parks.

For over 10 years, COLA has been the point of contact for public officials, the media, other cities, community groups, dog owners and the population at large on off-leash and other dog-related issues.