Dog walkers say they are frustrated that a shelter designed to provide shade for pets in the middle of an off-leash area in Cedarvale Park is too low and taking too long to replace.

City money would be better spent on maintaining the grounds where the canines play, they added. It has cost the city $135,000 to build the shelter, according to the parks, forestry and recreation division.

"Just the fact that we're going on a year now, for what was originally supposed to be a two-and-a-half month project, is obviously not the greatest," dog walker Jeremy Osborne said on Monday.

"It's just been this constant, ongoing thing, taking up a third of the park, maybe. It would be nice if it was done, going on a year is just a little bit ridiculous, when there are other things that they could have been doing as well."

Dog walker Jeremy Osbourne stands at a fountain with a golden retriever named Shiloh and three other dogs. (Lisa Naccarato/CBC)

Dog owner and walker Emma Tollefsen agreed, saying the shelter has left her "pretty annoyed" and she noted that it was never finished. The cement base was never laid and construction stopped last winter.

"It's taking up a lot of space," she said. "The construction workers working on it were taller already than the roof. They realized, 'Oh, this is too short for humans, let's just stop.'"

Toffefsen said the dog walkers who use the off-leash area every day have been calling 311 since the construction started. She called the structure "unfortunate."

Dog walker and owner Emma Tollefsen said the structure has left her 'pretty annoyed' because it's too low, it was never finished and it takes up a lot of room in the off-leash dog area. She is pictured here with a dog she walks. (Lisa Naccarato/CBC)

Coun. Joe Mihevc, who represents Ward 21, St. Paul's West, said the shelter will be torn down by the original contractor and replaced by the end of September because it is a "project marred with problems."



Mihevc said in an interview on Monday that the city issued a stop work order on the shelter in June. That was done to give the contractor time to reorder the materials and rebuild the shelter.

The roof of the shelter is about two feet too low and the shelter itself is the wrong colour, he added. It is supposed to be forest green, he said. Cedarvale Park is located between Vaughan Road and Bathurst Street, north of St. Clair Avenue West.

People trying to go underneath the structure can bump their heads on the edge of the roof, he added.

"At the end of the day, this was supposed to be something that would serve our dogs and our dog-loving community. I really regret the delays," Mihevc said. "But some of these things are out of our control."

'Did not meet specs'

The city will force the contractor to remove the existing structure and replace it by the end of September with one that meets specifications. Design elements were determined through consultation with area residents, he said.

In a July 26 newsletter to constituents, Mihevc acknowledged that the structure is fraught with issues.

"The contractor hired for the installation did not meet the specs that were clearly laid out in the tender. As a result, the current shelter was installed too low and fabricated using the incorrect colours requested by the community," he said.

"Along with City staff I have decided the contractor needs to honour what was laid out in the tender, as it was decided based on community consultation with local residents," he said.