Kenneth Magarian (right), chair of the Westfield Parks and Recreation Department, listens with other commissioners as Marilyn Sandidge, vice-president of the Friends of the Westfield Dog Bark, speaks to the commission about the enclosure recently erected by the Friends at Arm Brook Park to make it a “dog friendly” park. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – Although many amenities are still at least weeks away, the long dormant Arm Brook Park off Lockhouse Road has reopened as a “dog friendly” park after fencing to make an enclosure suitable for playing dogs was erected by the Friends of the Westfield Dog Bark.
The re-opening of the park was the primary subject discussed Monday evening at a meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission. The commissioners discussed finishing touches, such as parking controls, rules of conduct in the dog-friendly enclosure and vehicular access to the interior of the more than 11-acre property where it is located.
The park will remain firmly under control of the commission and the Friends will not be granted responsibility for the park.
Proposals had been floated to allow the group to lease part of the park for a nominal fee in the same way the Friends of Grandmothers Garden were given control of that park. Instead the group will have limited rights to maintain the dog enclosure much in the way the city’s Little League organization and horseshoe leagues have been informally granted the right to maintain and improve sections of other city parks and playgrounds.
The Friends were allowed to erect the fenced enclosure and, at the meeting, were authorized to erect canine waste control stations in the enclosure to encourage the handlers of the visiting dogs to clean up after their dogs. The Friends have also discussed providing mulch to cover the ground of the enclosure which is currently natural.
The opening of the “dog friendly” area culminates a more than three-year effort by the grassroots group to finance and build a playground for dogs where they can exercise and socialize.
A variety of locations were considered and discarded.
The option to use Arm Brook Park was first floated more than two years ago. The plan then was originally more ambitious, with two areas planned for dog play, both the small enclosure in the open area near the entrance of the park and a much larger wooded area along the shore of the flood control reservoir. That area was to be fenced at each end and was eyed as a place where dogs and their handlers would have room for woodland walks.
That area was for a time thought to be under the control of the city’s Flood Control Commission which voiced strenuous opposition to any use of the park fearing that increased awareness of the adjacent flood control dam would lead to more trespassers, especially those on motorized vehicles, who would exacerbate erosion damage to it.
Park and Recreation Commissioner Dawn Sienkiewicz reported at the meeting that the area, originally acquired for flood control and recreational purposes, was used since the 1960s as a park with a pavilion, a toilet building, a beach and other amenities but suffered years of neglect and decreased use and was closed in 1991 after vandals had damaged much of it and the remaining structure was condemned after a fire.
The Flood Control Commission had claimed, since the effort to build a dog playground there began, to have retained control and responsibility for the large wooded area eyed for dog rambles but, since the commission last discussed the issue, additional documents have come to light.
“Its been ours all along,” Sienkiewicz said but explained that although the Park and Recreation Commission was using and maintaining the property since 1962 it became the commission’s responsibility “on paper” more recently.
In 1972, Sienkiewicz said “The Flood Control (Commission) actually came to Park and Rec and asked them to take control of the property because they wanted more security and maintenance of the area.”
Sienkiewicz said that formal action apparently did not occur until 1983 when, according to documents she has found which have recently circulated among interested parties, the property was formally conveyed to the Parks and Recreation Commission.
Those documents include letters dated 1983 in which the then-assistant city solicitor advised the sitting mayor that the responsibility for control and maintenance of the 11.13 acre property could be changed with the agreement of the two commissions involved, the mayor and the city council.
Letters signed by the then-chairmen of the two commissions agreeing to the transfer are among the documents Sienkiewicz referenced as is an extract from the City Council minutes in which the council approved a motion brought by the Councilor Angela Holmes on behalf of the City Property Committee to transfer control of the property from the Flood Control Commission to the Parks and Recreation Commission.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti, who has been deeply involved in the planning to reopen the park, points out that the flood control commissioners asked the city’s law department months ago for an opinion about who controls the property at Arm Brook but notes that the commissioners are still waiting for a legal response.
Cressotti said, with the evidence provided by the recently unearthed documents, “the property is theirs (the park a recreation commission’s) to use.”
“I don’t see this as a controversy” Cressotti said, “they can exercise control of the property” to reopen it as a dog friendly public park.
The commissioners agreed that, although the park is available for use now, no formal announcement will be made until finishing touches are completed.
Jim Blascak, the interim director of the department, reported that he had walked the property with Casey Berube, an assistant director of the DPW, and Marilyn Sandidge, vice-president of the Friends, to determine work needed.
One of the amenities which will be postponed is water service to the park.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik, who has long supported a dog playground in the city, said recently that water service will be provided in the spring but said that residents, including dogs, may use the park now.
“The fence went in so we’re in pretty good shape” he said.
The commissioners agreed that barriers in the form of boulders or other obstructions need to be emplaced to limit vehicular access to much of the park and the gate near Lockhouse Road should be moved further into the park were it can be placed to allow access only for mowers and other equipment to the interior of the park and the flood control dam.
The commissioners also discussed the rules to be posted in the dog enclosure.
“In the beginning, we should be as cautious as possible,” said Commission Chairman Kenneth Magarian.
The commissioners tentatively agreed that children younger than 8 years of age will not be allowed in the enclosure and that children younger than 16 will have to be accompanied by an adult.
Other rules discussed would require that all the dogs using the playground be licensed (and thus inoculated), that no more than two dogs may be supervised by a single person and that all dogs must be attended and under control of their handler who must restrain their dog at the first sign of aggression.
No aggressive dogs, female dogs in season, very young puppies or sick dogs will be allowed to use the playground.
After the meeting, Lindsay Carr, secretary of the Friends of the Westfield Dog Bark, announced that a meeting would be staged for the members of the group and any interested persons to advise the supporters of the playground for dogs 0f the progress to date and to discuss ways the Friends may continue to support the “dog friendly” park in the city.
That meeting is planned for Tuesday, Dec. 3, at the North Elm Street Dunkin Donuts location at 7 p.m.
