A new dog park will be installed along the east side of Ridge Avenue, near Jim Nichols Tennis Center and Howell Field.
Dayton City Commission this month approved a $400,000 contract with Outdoor Enterprise Inc. to handle the work.
The project is expected to begin in mid-April and wrap up by late May, according to memo to the city manager from Fred Stovall, Dayton’s director of public works.
“We hope to have this done by June 1,” Stovall told city commissioners at their most recent weekly meeting.
The new dog park will be about four acres. The existing park is about 2.8 acres.
The new park will have a walking path, water fountains, restrooms and shelter enhancements, Stovall said.
The new park will have fenced-in areas for large dogs (3.36 acres in size) and smaller dogs (0.65 acres).
The current park is one large space.
Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein said city is contributing $100,000 to the project.
The rest of the funding comes from the Connor Group, which bought land from the city in the Deeds Point area to build a new school.
Excavation and wood pole installation is expected to begin in April, and concrete work, water service installation and enclosing the shelter should start the following month.
Fencing and railing is expected to go in starting in mid-May, and other work includes restoration and seeding and light fixture installation.
Some dog owners say they will miss the existing dog park because it is at a convenient location and has many great features.
However, some regulars say the new park has some promising new elements that dog owners and their furry companions may enjoy.
“We would like for it to be a bigger and better dog park, like we’ve been promised,” Butch Richardson, president of the Friends of Deeds Point Dog Park, told this newspaper last year.
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