Age restrictions at Barker Field cause disputes among neighbors

The park recently changed its rules, allowing only children 12-and-up in the dog park, with parental supervision.

October 22, 2014; 10:05 AM • by Trevor Dickerson

Things are getting hairy after age restrictions were altered at Byrd Park’s Barker Field dog park.

Richmond resident David Bender told Style Weekly he hadn’t visited the park in more than a year and wasn’t aware of new age restrictions on children in the dog park. The rule, put into place by the Friends of Barker Field, states:

No child under the age of 12 shall enter the dog park. Children 12-17 shall be accompanied by an adult.

Bender, assuming the original age restriction of 8-and-up was still in effect, brought his 9-year-old daughter to the dog park, which resulted in a verbal confrontation from another park-goer, according to Style:

Bender says the man got in his face and started yelling that his daughter couldn’t be there. Things got so intense that someone must have called police — or they took notice. Before officers arrived, Bender says, “It’s already escalating beyond the ridiculous and the sublime.”

Bender is now rallying public support to have the park’s rules changed, calling the rules “arbitrary and capacious,” and “put in by a nanny state.”

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Photo: Enrichmond