Chula Vista opens biggest dog park in the South Bay

Nearly a year after the Chula Vista City Council first decided to open a dog run at Rohr Park, the city celebrated the opening of what will be the biggest dog park in the South Bay.

The 1.4-acre park features “solar benches” that let users charge their phones. The park also includes separate areas for small and large canines, a play house and water spigots, according to a press release from Chula Vista.

Chula Vista hosted a grand opening ceremony at the dog run on Saturday.

When Councilman John McCann lobbied for a dog park, Chula Vista had 68 parks but only six off-leash dog runs; the closest one to Rohr Park was roughly four miles away.

McCann said Rohr Park was an ideal location for a dog run because nearby residents were already taking their dogs there. Therefore, it made sense for Chula Vista to formally designate it as such.

“We felt there was a huge demand for a dog park,” he said.

That was much easier said than done.

The city hosted multiple public workshops, heard concerns from neighbors and went through a long planning process before turning the idea of a dog run into reality.

“It’s been a great collaboration with the whole community,” McCann said.

The dog run will be located in the western portion of Rohr Park and be open daily from 7 a.m. to dusk, with the exception of Mondays from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. when a maintenance team will clean it up.