One of the cityof Barrie's two off-leash dog parks closes for the next 12 months.

Dog owners in Barrie who frequent the Sunnidale Dog Off-Leash Park will soon have to find somewhere else to roam.

The City of Barrie's engineering department will be doing work in the park and says it will close for safety reasons.

Two new bridges will be built on the path to allow access across Kidd's Creek. Construction on the bridges is expected to take six months. Once that work is done, the trail will reopen, but the dog park will remain closed to the public for another six months.

The city's website states that the park will be closed from July 29th until June 2020, and that has some residents miffed.

Michelle Lafon is hoping for power in numbers by starting an online petition to keep the dog park open. "I've been using it for four years, and I know how important it is to the community. I just don't agree with it , and I just think that people should get their voices out." As of Friday, the petition collected more than 60 signatures. Lafon says the only other Barrie dog park will become overrun with pups, and that's "unacceptable."

The city says it's necessary to close the popular dog park located by Bayfield Street and Highway 400 to allow the soils and vegetation "some much-needed rest" to restore and regenerate.

The other off-leash dog park is located in the south end behind the Barrie Molson Centre, and it remains open.