CANYON RIM — At least once a week, Robert Bringhurst makes the drive from his Sandy home to unleash his border collie, Colby, to roam the 88 acres that make up Parleys Historic Nature Park.
Bringhurst throws tennis balls to the dog in the open meadows and Colby splashes in the creek that runs through the gully on the east bench.
"He's got his favorite water holes," Bringhurst said. "As you go up the trail, he stops in every one."
But as city leaders look to revamp the park in hopes of accommodating different user groups, while restoring a long neglected waterway, dog owners from around the valley worry they're being squeezed out of their off-leash paradise.
Mayor Ralph Becker is considering a plan that would slash the park's off-leash area from 88 acres to about 10 acres and roughly two miles of trail.
"It's really sad," said Ty Nelson, who lives just a few blocks from Parleys and brings his dog, Mocha, there every morning. "It's a beautiful park and a special place for dogs."
At the heart of the city's proposed makeover is the need to restore the creek that runs through the center of the park.
"It's been neglected," Becker said. "This area has not had any active oversight."
Unrestricted access to the stream has led to people and pets trampling vegetation, creating erosion and water quality problems, said Emy Storheim, the city's Open Space Lands Program manager.
Without adequate vegetation along the creek, animal feces get washed into the creek during storms, often causing a spike in E. coli.
Salt Lake County's most recent analysis of water quality is still being finalized, but initial results indicate that the water within the park "may not meet state standards," according to city documents.
Turbidity caused by dogs and by people wading and tubing has proved a threat to the creek's Bonneville cutthroat trout population. State leaders have been trying to preserve the species' dwindling population for years, and Parleys Creek is home to the largest number of Bonneville cutthroats in Utah, officials said.
Dog owners have complained about a lack of off-leash parks in the city.
The city currently has about 12 acres of off-leash area spread throughout eight parks. In Parleys Historic Nature Park, the city plans to establish an off-leash water area and a fenced off-leash area between two miles of off-leash trail.
That would bring the city's total to about 22 acres.
Aside from Millcreek Canyon, there are 2.5 acres of off-leash dog parks in the rest of the county, Storheim said.
Dog owners, however, said the proposed water area is often inundated with water during the spring runoff, while the fenced area lacks needed shade.
City leaders are also trying to create a balance for cyclists and BMX riders.
Parleys Trail will be a "major corridor for bikes from Park City to the Jordan River," Becker said. The park is also home to an unofficial BMX course.
That course could be moved away from the stream to protect the riparian corridor, but the course will remain in the park, Becker said.
"It (the course) doesn't work that way," said Richard Fox, who rides BMX in the park a few times a week. "There's 12 years of work there."
e-mail: afalk@desnews.com