Queen Creek’s latest recreation space is for the dogs

Queen Creek’s big 2021 push to create or expand more public recreation spaces continues to benefit residents with the opening of the town's new dog park.

“The amenities of Queen Creek are one way the town delivers a high quality of life for families,” Vice Mayor Bryan McClure said. “We had an amazing turnout of residents and their pets to this much anticipated grand opening. Everyone exuded excitement for the park’s beauty and functionality.”

The Founders’ Park Dog Park, 22407 S. Ellsworth Road, officially opened March 21.

Starting in earnest five years ago, the Queen Creek Town Council vote in December 2021 to fund new park facilities as part of phase 1 of its parks master plan.

The town broke ground on the 85-acre Frontier Family Park, 20039 S. 220th St., in August 2022 and it opened in June 2024. The 13-acre expansion of Carter Mansel Oasis Park, 19535 E. Appleby Road, opened in July 2024.

Construction on the $67.9 million Queen Creek Recreation & Aquatic Center, located within Frontier Family Park, started in May 2023 with the center opening in March 2025.

The cost of Frontier Family Park, the recreation and aquatic center and the expansion of Mansel Carter Oasis Park was about $160 million.

With a new police headquarters being built where the Pocket Park for Pups once stood near town hall, the dog hangout had to be moved across the street to Founders’ Park. The pocket park was permanently closed on March 20.

Last year, the council established budgets totaling more than $2.9 million for the dog park relocation, as well as replacement playground equipment for Founders’ Park. The new playground area also opened on March 21.

“I appreciate (the dog park’s) proximity to the newly renovated playground and other amenities of Founders Park, including the town’s largest splash pad,” McClure said.

As with the old one, the new dog park has two separate sides and entries for large and active dogs, and small and timid dogs.

The dog park area itself doubled in size compared with the old location. In addition, it has two large canopies to provide shade to the canines and their humans. Trees are also being planted around the site. The new location also provides more parking.

Perhaps the biggest change is that each section of dog park has a mirror location, or cell, next to it. The cells will open at alternate times so one side can get a deep watering and recover as the other side is being used. This will allow for healthy grass year-round.

“The new dog park creates our strong sense of community for dog lovers and provides more shade than the previous pocket park that was designed to be temporary,” McClure said. “This facility provides greater capacity for both small and large dogs with the ability to rotate sides to keep the grass healthy.”

The Pocket Park for Pups used to close for a month every summer for re-seeding and irrigation.

Moving the dog park to Founders’ Park has necessitated permanently relocating the annual Founders’ Day celebration to Frontier Family Park. But that doesn’t make the new configuration of Founders’ Park any less of a community space.

“The focus of the dog park is it's a social space. It’s not just socialization for the dogs, which is fantastic, and exercise for the dogs, but it also continues to be socialization for Queen Creek residents,” Parks and Recreation Director Adam Robinson said before the park opened. “One of the best parts about a dog park is how it really connects that community.”

As of now, the town has no new parks planned for the near future, but it is working to develop recreational opportunities for residents.

Queen Creek is looking at using town-owned properties for “low-cost recreational uses, such as biking and hiking trails, disc golf, BMX tracks, and other similar activities,” according to a staff report from January 2025.

The opening of Frontier Family Park and the expansion of Carter Mansel Oasis Park were part of parks and recreation master plans adopted in 2005, 2007 and 2018 to address the town’s shortage of park land acreage.

While the town has purchased hundreds of acres that can be used for parks, development has a long turnaround and traditional amenities are expensive, which is why only four sites are currently being looked at for limited and low-cost recreational uses.

The next big effort for parks will be updating the parks and recreation master plan for 2028.

Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.