New: Please Take the State of Bayfront Park Survey
Mill Valley’s only off-leash dog park is at risk.
A proposal would put a bike pump track inside the off-leash area at Bayfront Park. This is the one place in town where dogs can legally run free, and neighbors of every age use it every day of the year.
We support a pump track in Mill Valley. We'd love to help find it a home that isn't the town's only off-leash dog park. As you can see, George agrees!
Join 400+ neighbors & stay in the loop
Why not at Bayfront?
Dogs and bikes are a risky mix
Off-leash dogs chase things that move fast. A track full of riders beside an unfenced off-leash area puts kids on bikes and dogs in each other's path. Nobody wants a child or a dog hurt. Marin County's Stafford Lake Bike Park keeps dogs out of its bike park.
A park for every age and ability
The dog park is free, flat, and open from dawn to dusk. It asks nothing of anyone except that they show up. Kids throw balls for the family dog. Retirees from The Redwoods walk over and sit on benches that park users bought themselves. People who have lost a dog still stop by to say hello.
For many older neighbors, it's the most dependable social hour of the week. One in four Mill Valley adults is 65 or older, and six in ten are 50 or older (2020 U.S. Census).
That is what Live Well Mill Valley, the City's age- and disability-friendly plan, asks for: accessible outdoor places where older residents stay connected. The dog park has been that place for 30 years, at almost no cost to the City. You can say so in the Live Well Mill Valley survey.
What the City already approved
In March 2024, after a year of surveys and meetings, the Parks and Recreation Commission approved $25,000 in dog park improvements: a wash-off station, weekly watering from May through October, waste stations, a chicane entry gate, grading, benches, and a volunteer station.
It’s been two years, and so far, only the gate is in. We'd love to see the rest.
Our History
1995: After a long public fight over where dogs could run, the City Council cites the off-leash area at the south end of Bayfront Park and cuts it from about 4.8 acres to 3. The group Park People & Dogs raises about $22,000 for benches, trees, and a water area.
1997: Local press reports that dogs have kept their park "for now."
2002: A plaque is installed and dedicated at the park, reading: On December 4, 1995, this three-acre dog park was made permanent by an amendment to the Bayfront Park Master Plan. Funding came from the City of Mill Valley and Generous Public donations.
2018 onward: The City reviews its off-leash policy several times. Each review keeps Bayfront as the town's only designated off-leash area.
2023–24: The City reopens discussions about how to spend $25,000 on the Bayfront Dog Park. After a year of surveys and community meetings, the Parks and Recreation Commission approves a list of improvements in March 2024, funded with $25,000 in capital money.
2024: The City installs one chicane gate (approximately $4,000) and returns the remaining budget of roughly $21,000 to capital funds.
2026:
The Mill Valley Pump Track Alliance, in cooperation with local bike businesses and a 17-acre pump track in Novato, launched a campaign to put a bike pump track inside of Bayfront’s Off-Leash Dog Park.
In August 2026, the County accepted a $20,000 private donation for concept designs for a bike facility serving southern Marin.
The City of Mill Valley earmarked $115,774 in Measure A funds for future planning and implementation (County staff report, August 25, 2026).
September 2026, Mill Valley Parks & Rec emailed dog park users and suggested fielding a new survey to decide whether and how to spend the remaining $21,000.
Note: those are the same funds the City previously agreed to use for benches, waste stations, shade trees, and a wash-off station (items prioritized by a survey of park users).
Traffic & Parking
Bayfront is bursting beyond capacity
If you've tried to park near Bayfront lately, you already know. The same street and lots serve the middle school, the skate park, the volleyball park, the soccer fields, the Sausalito-Mill Valley bike path, city employees, and the dog park.
The squeeze has grown. Several years ago, the city removed more than 20 street parking spaces to make way for a much-needed bike lane. The school lot that sports teams rely on for weekend tournaments is closed for construction.
A pump track would add more traffic and parking demand. The Alliance describes it as a place for riders from at least six Southern Marin towns (more here). Some adults and youth would ride over on the path, and that's a lovely picture. Plenty of individuals and families would also bring bikes on their car racks, drive, and park.
We're asking the City to count cars and parking spaces at every site it considers before it chooses one. We’re asking you to reasonably consider how much more traffic Miller Avenue, Sycamore Avenue, and East Blithedale Avenue can handle. East Blithedale Avenue alone has a documented daily usage of 40,000 vehicles (City traffic study, Caltrans count, etc.).
As one community member who rides on Mount Tam wrote:
“A pump track is not a passive amenity. It is specifically intended to attract continuous use by bikes, scooters, and skateboards, including riders building speed and skills on rollers, berms, and jumps … The issue is not whether youth deserve recreation. They do. The issue is whether the City should sacrifice one of Mill Valley’s most successful,heavily loved, low-cost public resources in order to create it.”
Isn't it only about one acre?
It's a fair question, and we're glad the Alliance is asking it openly. Their concept is about 40,000 square feet, a little under an acre: a bicycle playground for ages 1 to 6, a pump track, and a jump line, with fencing and its own gated entrance.
First, a word to the riders. We know all too well what it's like to keep defending a place you love, and we're sorry Scott Valley Jumps is gone. We want Mill Valley kids to have a place to ride.
Here is why Bayfront is a harder fit than the Alliance’s numbers suggest.
The off-leash area is under three acres, not 4.3. The Alliance measured 4.3 acres by tracing the park in Google Earth, including the perimeter path and the shoreline. The City's plaque at the park says three acres. At three acres, the bike park would take about 31% of the off-leash area.
The shape matters as much as the size. The off-leash field is about 220 to 275 feet wide. A fenced 40,000 square feet would either span the full width of the field for 150 feet or more, or run as a long strip down one side. Either way, it cuts into the open loop that older neighbors walk every day.
We've shared before. In 1995, the City reduced the off-leash area from about 4.8 acres to about 3. This is what's left.
It's the only one we have. Bayfront is larger than the dog parks in other Marin towns, and that's why it works. It's an open field with a walking loop, shared by neighbors from grade school to their nineties.
The 2024 improvements stand on their own. We're grateful the Alliance supports a wash station, irrigation, shade, and benches. The Parks and Recreation Commission approved those in March 2024, and we hope to see them finished, regardless of what happens with a bike park.
Every site deserves the same research and consideration. Earlier proposals at Edgewood Reservoir and Boyle Park didn't go forward, Boyle because there wasn't enough room. The Commission's project for 2026–27 is to investigate and evaluate potential sites. We'd ask that Bayfront be measured the same way as the others: room, safety, parking, and traffic. A bike park with a toddler area and a jump line would bring many families by car to a space with no extra capacity, and it would put small children and airborne riders beside off-leash dogs.
For anyone who wants the numbers, here is how Mill Valley's outdoor space is allocated.
Do you oppose a bike pump track?
1
No. Many of us ride, and some of us have kids who would love one. We'd happily show up to support a pump track at a site that works.
Why can’t dogs and bikes share the park?
2
Off-leash dogs chase fast-moving things. Putting dogs side by side with bikes creates injury risks for both, and the likely result is that the off-leash area shrinks again or disappears. Marin County's own Stafford Lake Bike Park doesn't allow dogs for the same reason.
Is the park underused?
Is a pump track inclusive?
3
No. People and dogs are there every day of the year, including holidays and rainy days. The City has neglected the grass, trees, and amenities for more than a decade, and people still show up.
For people who ride, yes. The dog park serves everyone who can pass through the gate, from kids to retirees in their 80s and 90s, whether or not they ride, run, or even own a dog (many folks who stop by just to say “Hello” after losing their dog). A pump track can't be used by an 85-year-old with a cane, a person recovering from surgery, or someone who just wants to sit in the sun by the bay and talk to a neighbor. The dog park can, and it is, every day.
Replacing it would take a space that serves people from 8 to 80+ and hand it to a narrower group. We'd rather see Mill Valley add a pump track somewhere else and keep the park that already brings the town together.
The off-leash Dog Park is free, open every day, and it has been Mill Valley's shared outdoor space for 30 years.
How much space does the dog park use compared to youth sports?
4
About 2.8 acres. The dog run used to be about 4.8 acres, but in 1996 the City Council reduced it to 2.8 acres to make room for two beautiful, oversized soccer fields (closed for part of winter, dormant on most school days, dormant on weekends when there aren’t games).
The City also manages nine athletic fields for youth sports: Alto, Bayfront, Bell/Ropers, Boyle Majors and Minors, Friends North and South, and Hauke North and South. Together, they cover roughly 11-13 acres, excluding the fields at Tam High and the local schools. That doesn’t include the six playgrounds, skate park, or beach volleyball court.
The Bayfront Dog Park is free to use, accessible to all ages and abilities, and needed by residents without yard access; it's open every day and is the only place in Mill Valley where dogs can legally run off-leash.
Where can people & kids ride bikes?
5
Almost everywhere. Mountain biking started on Mount Tamalpais in the 1970s, and riders still come from around the world to ride its fire roads. The Mill Valley–Sausalito path runs right alongside the dog park.
Additionally, Stafford Lake Bike Park in Novato has 17 acres of free public riding, including a kids' learn-to-ride pump track and a beginner pump track.
Who is behind the pump track proposal?
6
The Mill Valley Pump Track Alliance is a group of local riders, parents, cycling advocates, and local businesses we shop at, including Tam Bikes and Proof Lab. We share their goal of more places for kids to ride. We differ on where.
The Alliance raises funds through its fiscal sponsor, Friends of Stafford Lake Bike Park, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
In August 2026, the County accepted a $20,000 donation from Marin Community Foundation's Open Space and Parks Fund for concept designs for a bike facility serving southern Marin.
The City of Mill Valley has programmed $115,774 in Measure A funds for future planning and implementation (County staff report, August 25, 2026).
No site has been chosen. The Alliance proposes the Bayfront Off-Leash Dog Park and calls it "a reasonable ask." We encourage you to read their materials.
We're asking the City to include dog park users while those concepts are being drawn.
Save Bayfront Dog Park is a group of neighbors.
We don't fundraise, and we have no sponsors. In 2023 and 2024, we spent more than a year working with the City of Mill Valley on how to spend $25,000 in capital funds set aside for the dog park.
We're still waiting on most of those improvements. The City has since returned that money to the City's capital fund. We care about everyone's safety, especially our senior neighbors, who are too often overlooked.
What are you asking the City to do?
7
Keep Bayfront's off-leash area whole. Finish the improvements approved in 2024. Add amenities for older residents. Please study every possible pump track site, considering safety, parking, safe access for seniors, and traffic. No public outdoor space has been dedicated to our aging demographic. Nearly all city park projects have focused entirely on youth athletics.
How can I reach you?
Email woof@savebayfrontdogpark.org
We read everything and try to reply within a day or two.