Guelph’s sole fenced-in dog park will remain open, and plans for a second off-leash park will move forward — at least for now.

On Monday, Feb. 24, council voted that a decision made earlier this month to scrap a planned leash-free facility at Bristol Street Park and shutter another — open at Peter Misersky Park — was out of order.

The vote to rule the Feb. 3 decision out of order was signalled earlier in the day when Mayor Cam Guthrie posted on his Twitter account that the earlier vote went against the city’s procedural bylaw.

According to that bylaw, notice must be given, followed by a subsequent vote of reconsideration, in order to revisit council's past decisions.

“There would need to be a reconsideration because you can't have a policy adopted in June, and then have council formally change its decision on that substantively,” Stephen O’Brien, the city clerk, told council following a question from Coun. Christine Billings.

Council’s vote to rule the prior decision out of order also meant the 27 delegations registered to talk to council Monday evening were unable to speak, as delegations can only be related to motions up for a vote.

While the majority of council voted that its prior decision was out of order, this does not necessarily mean the issue is settled.

Coun. Leanne Caron Piper told council she intends to bring forward a notice of motion at a future meeting — for either the March 9 or March 23 meeting, depending on the agendas for those dates — to have a vote of reconsideration around the future of dog parks.

Under the procedural bylaw, for that reconsideration debate to move forward, two thirds of council — nine members — would need to support the motion.

Earlier in the meeting, Caron Piper tried putting forward a motion to suspend construction on Bristol Street for 60 days, given that a reconsideration vote was coming. However, that motion was ruled out of order by Guthrie and did not make it to a vote.