“Lack of funding was always the answer until the 2024 budget was established by city council,” he told this news outlet. “It’s a park amenity that most of our community would welcome, and we are excited to finally make it happen.”
The park will be created within Hintermeister Park, a 20-acre park at 1300 Mayrose Drive, which features a basketball court, playground, shelter, butterfly garden and wooded walking trails.
“Hintermeister checked all of the boxes necessary for developing the dog park, specifically: space, parking, public restrooms, water availability, shade,” he said.
Another factor was the neighborhood.
“A lot of people love dog parks. They don’t like him in their backyard, so that was another consideration,” he said.
The new dog park, which will be the first in the city, will offer one area for smaller dogs and another area for bigger dogs.
The projected $48,000 price tag for the dog park includes a cement pad, fencing, drinking fountain, signs, benches, a Mutt Mitt station, dog bags and trash cans.
“The beauty of the dog park is we can build it and we have time to continue to make it grow,” he said. “We don’t have to do it all at once. Get it fenced in, get it safe, get water there. That’s the big thing.”
Fencing is expected to start mid-spring, and plantings and furnishing will be added in late spring. The park is expected to open in late June.
Mattingly said he doesn’t believe the park will be inundated with hundreds of dogs every day.
“This is a community dog park,” he said. “We may see a dozen every day there. The beauty of it is, if it gets out of hand, they have gates. We can lock it in, we can let it rest. We can do what we need to do and take care of it so it won’t get abused or damaged.”
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