Yuma’s Bark Park closes four weeks for wall repairs and upgrades

Yuma dog owners lost access to the city’s only off-leash park Monday when Bark Park closed for about four weeks for wall repairs and upgrades, leaving the 3.35-acre site off limits while crews tackle a safety issue that has been building for decades.

The shutdown covers Bark Park at 1705 E. Palo Verde Street, a park that normally offers a double-gated entry, benches, shaded areas, a water fountain and waste-disposal stations. City officials said the main problem is an aging wall that runs parallel to the residential property bordering the park and has begun to tilt and deteriorate, making a simple patch job too risky for the site.

City engineering said the wall dates to the original subdivision construction in the 1970s or 1980s and was built with wider spans than recommended. That history helps explain why the city chose a full closure instead of trying to keep part of the park open while crews work. Heavy equipment will be needed to make the repairs properly, and Parks and Recreation crews will also use the downtime to complete irrigation and ground improvements.

“This work is necessary to ensure the long-term viability of the park,” Parks and Recreation Director Eric Urfer said.

For regular users, the closure removes Yuma’s dedicated off-leash space at once. Until the park reopens, dogs must stay leashed in other city parks and public spaces unless a location is specifically marked as a designated off-leash area. The city says Bark Park is the only off-leash dog park in Yuma, which makes the closure a bigger daily inconvenience than a routine maintenance project.

The work also sits inside a much larger parks system. The City of Yuma Parks and Recreation Department maintains more than 600 acres of parks and facilities, including 32 parks, eight neighborhood basin parks, nine athletic complexes, two golf courses, 19 city buildings, a gymnasium, outdoor courts and volleyball courts. Bark Park is one small piece of that network, but for dog owners it is the city’s only place to let a dog run free without a leash.

The city said the closure began April 20, 2026, and is expected to last about four weeks, putting reopening in mid-May if the schedule holds.