Briarwood Park

Briarwood Park is a Mecklenburg County park at 5349 Waterwood Street in east Charlotte, which means the county’s rules are the park’s rules. The Parks and Recreation Facilities Ordinance states it in one line: it is unlawful “to have pets in the areas of County parks where pets are expressly prohibited.” Everywhere else on the grounds, dogs are allowed. Leashed.

Where they aren’t allowed is most of what’s built here. Park and Recreation’s own posted rules put the leash at “6 ft. or shorter,” tell owners to pick up after a pet, and state that “Pets are not allowed in playgrounds or athletic field areas.” Briarwood is two ball diamonds and a playground. Subtract those and what’s left is the mown ground between them, the concrete walkways, and the asphalt.

There is no county web page for this park. It appears in the county’s own GIS as a developed community park in the North region, at the Waterwood Street address, and that’s the extent of what the agency publishes about it. Hours are the same story. Section 31 of the ordinance makes it unlawful to be in a park after “the posted closing time for that park,” so the sign at the entrance is the only place that time exists.

Water fountains and bowls: the county doesn’t address them here one way or the other. Section 11 of the ordinance does bar bathing dogs in “the streams, lakes, or other water features of any park.”

Off-leash isn’t legal on these grounds. Mecklenburg County’s fenced dog parks are the only off-leash ground in the system, and the east-side one is Barkingham Park at Reedy Creek Park, 2900 Rocky River Road, open daily from 7:30 a.m. to sunset with separate large- and small-dog sections. Rabies with tag number, DHLPP, and Bordetella vaccinations are required to enter it.

Parking is several small asphalt lots off Waterwood. Briarwood Academy, the elementary school, sits next door.