WESTFIELD – The Flood Control Commission established a subcommittee of three members to develop a formal document of conditions the board would like attached to the creation of a dog park at the Arm Brook flood control dam facility.
Board Chairman James Phillips said city officials, including Mayor Daniel M. Knapik and City Council members, have made creation of a dog park at the flood control area a priority.
“So it’s kind of a done deal,” Phillips said. “It would behoove this board, as the oversight of the flood control facilities, to print out our requirements and conditions that need to be in place to protect the integrity of the dam and the safety of residents downstream if the dam fails.
“I think it is important, at this point as a commission, to say here is what is needed to protect the dam,” Phillips said. “We need to have it in print.”
Phillips appointed commission members Henry Worchal, Barry H. Plumley and Albert G. Giguere Jr., to serve on the subcommittee to develop that document formalizing the board’s conditions and requirements for use of the facility as a special purpose municipal park.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said that the commission will remain in control of the flood control impoundment area.
“It will be similar to the Parks and Recreation Commission licensing certain playgrounds to the Westfield Little League which set the rules for those ballparks, maintains them, sets hours of use,” Cressotti said.
“You would authorize the Dog Bark group to operate a dog park on your property. You are in control of this property, you can license that group to use it under the conditions you establish,” he said.
The goal for the subcommittee is to present the commission with a formal document at its next meeting in September.
