A plan to site a dog park on the grounds of the unused Arms Brook Park off Lockhouse Road was boosted by a recent finding by a state agency.
WESTFIELD – A dog playground proposed for the currently unused Arms Brook Park took another step toward the finish line Monday when state officials found that the dog park will not impact protected animals on the site.
The city’s Conservation Commission had convened a public hearing on the park Nov. 27 but that hearing was continued to allow The Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to consider what impact fencing for the dog park might have on wildlife.
In a letter dated Monday, Thomas W. French, an assistant director of the program, said that the proposal “will not result in prohibited “take” of state-listed rare species.”
With the endangered species hurdle surmounted, Marilyn Sandidge, vice president of the Friends of the Westfield Dog Bark, said that the remaining major obstacles preventing work on the park are pending legal opinions from the city’s Law Department.
The current plan proposed by the Friends envisions two fenced areas on the property at Arms Brook which was originally acquired by the city in 1967 to allow construction of a flood control dam.
At the time, provisions were included for public access to the site as the property was designated for multiple purposes.
The property is accessed by a rudimentary driveway from Lockhouse Road between the turnpike overpass and the eastern border of the St. John’s Lutheran Church cemetery
The 1967 work plan called for provision by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Game of “materials and personnel to practice and fish and wildlife management” but funds were never provided for that purpose and, instead, the city developed Arms Brook Park.
The park, in its heyday, included two pavilions, a kitchen, barbeques, basketball courts, horseshoe pits, fireplaces, picnic tables and areas for swimming and fishing.
After years of vandalism, the park was closed in 1972 after a pavilion was burned down.
Control of the property was split between the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, which administers the property to the east of the cemetery, and the Flood Control Commission which controls the property between the cemetery’s northern fence and the flood control reservoir.
The Parks and Recreation Commission has supported the Friends’ efforts, almost since the group organized more than two years ago.
The plan calls for a small enclosure, to be funded, erected and administered by the volunteer group, east of the cemetery and close to a locked gate which would be erected, along with a fence, near the earthen dam to discourage persons from walking on the dam.
A second, larger, area which would allow dogs to run loose in the woods, with their handlers, would be created by extending the fencing on both the eastern and western sides of the cemetery to the water of the retaining pond created by the dam.
The long sides of the larger area would be formed by the existing cemetery fence and by the shore of the pond.
That part of the site is controlled by the flood commission which raised concerns relative to both increased traffic on the dam, which could degrade the structure, and permissible uses of the property beyond the purview of the commission.
When commissioners suggested that increased use of the property would make the dam more well known and more likely to be trespassed upon, supporters of the dog park responded that ,with increased use of the site, there would be more responsible citizens keeping an eye on the dam who could be counted on to report unauthorized traffic there.
Some dams have been severely damaged by trespassers, especially by miscreants operating motorized vehicles whose tracks and ruts tend to encourage erosion on the face of a dam.
Fencing to clearly separate the park from the dam is intended to minimize trespassers from the park.
However, the commission requested that the city’s law department provide a legal opinion about the use of the larger wooded area for recreational purposes.
The Law Department has also been asked for an opinion to clarify what city agency has authority to allow the use of the property for a dog park, Sandidge said.
Those opinions have not yet been issued.
If those opinions support the Friends’ plans, an agreement with the city, such as a lease, would be the final piece needed to allow the Friends, a private group, to exercise a measure of control over the city property and start work on the dog park.
Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik arranged for the site for the smaller enclosure to be cleared by a crew of inmates on a work release program from the Hampden County Correctional Center so, Sandidge said, once legal authority is secured, work can begin to erect the playground for dogs.
The Friends have raised money for the park since their inception in 2010 and recently were granted 501(c)(3) status making donations to the project tax deductible.
The next scheduled fund raising event will be the second annual ‘Pasta for the Park’ dinner at the Sons of Erin hall on Friday, Feb. 1.
The supper at the Irish club on William Street starts at 6 p.m. and will feature live music by Fran Liptak and ‘Deuce and a Quarter’.
The cost of the supper will be $10 and tickets will be available both at the door and at the group’s web site, WestfieldDogBark.com.
Local merchants including Mama Cakes, For K-9 & Felines, Miss Sweets and Ezra’s Mercantile have donated prizes for a raffle and two 50/50 raffles will be offered with one drawing at 7 p.m. and one at 8 p.m.
Interested parties who may wish to support the dog park by donating a raffle prize can contact Lindsay Carr, the organizer of the event, by e-mail at [email protected].
Carr said ” Our group is working to bring a safe, social, off-leash dog park to the city of Westfield, and we’re asking the community that would like to use this facility to come down, have dinner, and maybe win some prizes.”
