Potential future uses at Rancho Cañada are coming into focus.

Carmel residents David and Linda Mullally look out at four acres of the former Rancho Cañada Golf Club. Where there is dead, uninviting grass, they see a dream: a dog park for Carmel Valley. Gem, their 2-and-half-year old Siberian husky, stands quietly next to them, gazing out at the field.

“I’ve been thinking about this for years,” Linda says.

As 140 acres at the former Rancho Cañada Golf Club are set to open this fall as an expansion of Palo Corona Regional Park, some potential future uses of the site are starting to take shape.

Of those potential uses – and more are certain to be proposed in the coming months – none has garnered more support than a proposed four-acre dog park, which would be Carmel Valley’s first.

The Mullallys, who hatched the idea of the park with Carmel Highlands residents Norm and Fran Leve, explain their vision at the proposed location just south of Carmel Valley Road.

“There’s a lot of excitement in the dog community,” David says.

Linda says she’s been talking about a dog park with Rafael Payan, general manager of the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District, since he came onto the job in 2013. Once the district’s acquisition of the property – expected to happen in the fall – was announced in 2016, the Mullallys and Leves sprung into action, gauging community support.

Since then, Linda says, “It took on a life of its own.”

The idea – to have two separate fenced areas for big and small dogs – has gained more than 300 emails in support, as well as the endorsement of County Supervisor Mary Adams and the Carmel Valley Association. On July 12, supporters presented their plan to the MPRPD board.

But it’s still early in the process: The land is currently owned by the Trust for Public Land, which acquired it, in part, through four grants. Payan says the park district won’t know the land-use restrictions laid out in those grants for about another 60 days.

He also says other uses have been proposed, like a cross-country running course that could be used for high school, collegiate or community races.

Cal Fire has also approached the district to use the park as a staging area in the event of a fire.

MPRPD has hired consultant Steve Noll to create the Palo Corona general development plan, which will outline future uses at the park. Noll says he will host a series of meetings beginning this fall to get input from the public, and he expects to present recommended uses to the MPRPD board next spring.