San Jose District 6 Councilman Ken Yeager has been pushing for an off-leash park in Willow Glen for several years. Yeager wanted to schedule a meeting to work out the differences, after opposition formed over the plans to locate an off-leash park at Wallenberg Park on Curtner Avenue. The Willow Glen Neighborhood Association helped bring the parties together.

Willow Glen Neighborhood Association president Ed Rast and North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association vice president Harvey Darnell agreed to moderate the meetings.

The group has met twice since the beginning of August and plans to discuss the feasibility of their ideas with Yeager's office and the San Jose Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services.

"I'm very encouraged by what Ed Rast has taken on," said Tom Stroebel, who is in favor of the Wallenberg site.

Neighbors surrounding the proposed park are fighting the plans, citing child safety concerns. The residents argue that the proposed off-leash dog park would be in the path of students walking to and from Willow Glen Middle and High schools, as well as the Wallenberg playground area.

Resident Art Kennedy represents the Wallenberg Park Preservation Team that opposes the off-leash dog park at Wallenberg. This group wants a dog park in a different location.

Stroebel believes he has a solution that might satisfy both sides. He wants to fold the Wallenberg site into an alternative plan called "park share," a program he saw work well in his former city, San Diego.

Park share consists of open spaces at various parks throughout the area where owners can let their dogs run off-leash during the first and last few hours of daylight. The sites would not be fenced in and would be available for other public uses during the rest of the day.

"It's, in effect, institutionalizing what has already been in practice," Stroebel said. "We have seen park share work so well."

Stroebel believes a park share program would ease parking concerns because owners could walk to the parks from their homes. He also said funding for the program would be minimal, requiring only additional signs at existing parks. The city could also try the option for a six-month probation period with little cost.

The Wallenberg Park Preservation Team, however, prefers a fenced off-leash dog park. The group would still like it to be located within District 6, preferably in Willow Glen but not at Wallenberg. Kennedy and his team have scoured the area to find alternate sites that would not negatively impact single-family neighborhoods.

Possible sites include Frank Santana Park on Tisch Way, which is near Interstate 280, and park space at the proposed new KB Home development on the former Del Monte Cannery site at Auzerais Avenue and Sunol Street.

To Kennedy, however, the "absolutely ideal" site is located on W. Alma Avenue near Highway 87 because it is walking distance from Willow Glen. Kennedy said the site is a rundown, unkempt lot of weeds owned by the Santa Clara Valley Water District.

Although the groups have different perspectives on the location and type of dog park to construct, both sides are committed to bringing a dog park into the area.

Previously, sites considered by the parks department included River Glen and Bramhall parks before the department settled on Wallenberg.

"I'm optimistic we'll get some work done," Rast said. "Willow Glen is a dog-friendly area."