Neighbors Are Taking Over the Dog Stations on Gleneagle's Old Golf Course. Here's Where to Walk the Dog This Winter

"Because we don't have the money." That's how an interim board member explained the Gleneagle Civic Association's recent cost cuts at its Oct. 12 meeting, according to Our Community News. One of those cuts was the paid service that empties the dog-waste canisters on Ray Berg Open Space.

For anyone in Gleneagle who leashes up a dog every morning, that decision gets to the heart of how the neighborhood's main dog walk works. The trails across the old golf course aren't a county park. Gleneagle homeowners own them, pay for them, and under the board's plan, will be the ones carrying the bags.

The walk you take every day belongs to the HOA

Ray Berg Open Space is about 90 acres of former golf course, per OCN's reporting. The association's open space rules describe it as a common element that the Gleneagle Civic Association owns and maintains for its members. That ownership explains what's happening to the dog stations. Their upkeep has to come out of the same assessment pool that covers insurance, bookkeeping and everything else the association does.

The numbers from that October meeting are small. The waste-pickup contract ran about $3,800 to $4,000 a year. Covenant Enforcement Committee chair Michael Weiner put total assessments at roughly $50,000 a year if every homeowner pays, so the contract took up about 8% of the association's income. Treasurer Mike Rosas reported $19,581 in the operating account. With that much cushion, a single line item the size of the dog-waste contract matters, and the board voted to suspend it.

Volunteers ran this job once before. OCN reports that neighbors handled pickup on the open space before the association hired the service. The board's plan brings that arrangement back.

What stays the same on the trail

The board's posted summary on the GCA news page says volunteers will take over after the required notice to the provider. Weiner is leading the volunteer group. For someone out with a dog, three things stay the same:

1. The stations and canisters stay where they are.
2. Volunteers plan to keep a pickup schedule similar to the contractor's.
3. The dispensers on Ray Berg Open Space remain the collection point.

The rules behind the walk haven't changed either. The association's open space regulations require pets to be leashed at all times and owners to pick up after them. When the canisters are emptied by neighbors on their own time, every bag that actually makes it into a canister is one less job for them.

Winter shrinks the window

The hours rule matters more in November than in June. Here's the text of the association's rule:

"Unless otherwise posted, the Open Space shall be open to the Association homeowners, their guests, and other persons defined above from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset."

Because the hours follow the sun, the open space closes earlier as the days get shorter. A walk that fit comfortably after work in September can run past the posted window by late November. If signs at a trailhead list different hours, the signs control.

You may also share the trails with bikes. At a March board meeting, OCN reported, the board said electric bikes with pedals are allowed on the open space trails and electric or gas motorbikes are not. The board had reported motorbike riders and asked the El Paso County Sheriff's Office to help. The regulations ban vehicles of any kind except emergency vehicles.

Some of the ground underfoot is new, too. In fall 2024, OCN reported a trail reroute between the old 13th and 14th fairways, built with fill and a culvert. This spring, about 100 yards near 14080 Gleneagle Drive on the north side were seeded and covered with grass matting. North of the windmill, an old pit that had been backfilled with broken asphalt got fresh topsoil and seed. Those are the patches of young grass you see on the north end.

When the dog needs to run off leash

Ray Berg Open Space is leashed-only. The closest fenced off-leash option is a county facility a short drive east, and it runs under a different set of rules.

Fox Run Dog Park opened in 2013 because residents asked for a safe place to let dogs off leash inside Fox Run Regional Park. It sits in the park's southeast corner. To get there, enter at 2110 Stella Drive and go right.

The main area has a 5-foot fence and a half-mile loop trail. The small-dog side has a 4-foot fence and is for dogs 25 pounds or less. The posted rules go further than the open space rules do. Dogs have to wear proof of current vaccination and license and must be spayed or neutered. Dogs younger than four months and females in heat aren't allowed. Handlers need a leash with them the whole time and have to stay in visual contact with their dogs. Handlers must be 18 or older, and runners, cyclists and equestrians aren't permitted inside.

The dog park's dawn-to-dusk hours are also shorter than the 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. the rest of Fox Run Regional Park keeps. Outside the fence, the county requires dogs to be leashed on its trails and in its parks. That covers Fox Run's four miles of multi-use trails.

The rest of Fox Run is still a work zone

If you plan to pair the dog park with a lap around the ponds, expect construction. In October 2025, the county announced a renovation covering pond grading and drainage, liners, trail work, a replacement gazebo, landscaping, and ADA parking and sidewalk improvements. Completion was expected by spring 2026.

Spring came and went. The county's Fox Run Regional Park page, updated Oct. 20, 2026, still lists accessible sidewalks to the updated wedding gazebo and the warming hut restrooms as under construction. The gazebo opens for reservations in 2027. The accessible parking, the Pine Meadows Playground, and the Oak Meadows and Pine Meadows restrooms are listed as accessible amenities.

After the walk

A few nearby businesses officially welcome dogs or offer services for them:

• Goat Patch Brewing Northgate, 12245 Voyager Parkway #100, allows well-behaved, leashed dogs on its patio.
• EarthWise Pet, 7 Spectrum Loop, Suite 115, has a self-serve dog wash and grooming. That's handy after a muddy shoulder-season walk.
• Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming Flying Horse, 13560 Roller Coaster Road, is a pet store with full-service grooming. It's on the same road you take to Fox Run.
• PetSmart Monument, 16086 Jackson Creek Parkway, offers grooming.

How to keep the canisters emptied

Since volunteers are taking over the stations, the board's summary welcomes more help. OCN lists [email protected] as the address for general questions and comments to the board. If you walk the open space every day anyway, signing up costs very little.

The board that made this call is an interim one. The association's annual member meeting and board election are scheduled for Dec. 14, and nominations close Nov. 19. Interested members can email a short bio, a vision statement and their priorities for the community to that same address. Treasurer Rosas said the 2027 budget will be communicated to homeowners as the bylaws require.

This post is general information about posted rules, not legal advice. For questions about how your association's covenants or rules apply to you, check with the association or a qualified professional.

Thinking about how Gleneagle's open space and association fit into a future sale or purchase? The Fletcher Team can walk you through what the association covers and what it costs before you decide. Get a free home valuation and exclusive listings.