Scottsdale council approves petition to restore behavior-based signage at Chaparral Dog Park

Scottsdale City Council voted Tuesday to approve a citizen petition to replace the park's “large/small” dog area signs with behavior-based “active/passive” designations and to install new, larger dog-park etiquette signs at Chaparral Dog Park, near Hayden and McDonald.

The petition, submitted on behalf of hundreds of park users, asked the city to return to behavior-based designations and to post new entry signage that helps first-time visitors decide which area best fits their dog. The change followed a Parks and Recreation Department presentation that said the department had switched to size-based signage in 2023 after user feedback that “active/passive” was too subjective.

Nick Molinari, interim assistant director for the City of Scottsdale Parks and Recreation Department, told council the off-leash area is divided into three cells — two larger areas rotated for turf maintenance and a smaller cell — and that staff had benchmarked approaches used in other cities and industry guidance before recommending signage options. Molinari said benchmarking showed many cities use size-based labels, and that groups such as the American…