The city is in preliminary talks to set aside a parcel at Ala Wai Neighborhood Park for a temporary off-leash dog park, while a nearby site destined to become a permanent park for pooches is being used to house equipment for the Ala Wai sewer project.

In April 2006, the city gave formal approval to designate about 32,000 square feet at Ala Wai Park for an off-leash dog area. But shortly afterward, the city needed the site to store equipment for the Ala Wai sewer project. Two years later, the site is still housing equipment and the city has told the group pushing for a dog park that it will be 30 months to five years before the site will be free.

In the meantime, the Ala Wai K-9 Playground Association is asking for a temporary park.

The proposed site is behind the community gardens at Ala Wai Park and would be fenced off.

The association is offering to pay for fencing and other upgrades.

"This is doable," Sandy Edrich, vice president of the K-9 association, said last week as she walked her two dogs — a toy poodle and a terrier. "We're determined to get our park."

Meanwhile, at the site for the proposed interim park, dog owners were given special permission to walk their dogs on a leash as long as they stay on the promenade that runs along the Ala Wai Canal.

About 6 feet of grass separates the walkway from the edge of the canal.

The promenade also has a small grass buffer separating it from the community gardens.

But the proposed interim site has no large expanse of green.

Edrich said the site is not ideal, but will work for now. And she added that even without a designated park, as many as 30 people a night gather at the area set aside for walking dogs because there is no other place nearby where dog owners — and their cooped-up condo dogs — can meet up.

She said several of the association members are disabled or have transportation limitations, which makes getting to a dog-friendly area outside the community out of the question. The nearest fenced-off dog park is in Diamond Head and there is also a new no-leash dog park in Hawai'i Kai. Kapi'olani Park has a small patch of land adjacent to the Gold Coast where dogs are only allowed on a leash.

Les Chang, city parks department director, said he is investigating the possibility of offering a temporary site for a dog park at Ala Wai Park until the permanent site is vacated.

But he said there are a number of logistical issues that need to be addressed, including whether construction crews handling the sewer project will in the future need access to the site or use it for storage, too.

"We're looking at ways to make this happen," Chang said.

He said the park would need fencing and a water source, not to mention continued maintenance, and said the association would need to be willing to provide some support for the project to become a reality.

Shaunna Tabor, president of the association, said the group would be more than willing to help. "We've still got no place to take our dogs," she said. "This is not an unimportant project."

The association first proposed using the site for an interim dog park in March.

Edrich said she is awaiting formal word from Chang on how to move forward.