Meeting
to discuss
dog park
proposal
By CARL E. HARTDEGEN
Staff Writer
WESTFIELD – Members of the public will have the opportunity to learn more about a proposed dog park on Thursday at a 6:30 p.m. public meeting in the City Council chambers at City Hall.
A group of local residents, Friends of Westfield Dog Bark, has been working to establish an off leash playground for dogs in the city since the summer of 2010 and have considered a number of sites since then but had not found one suitable.
The group has enjoyed the support of the Westfield Parks and Recreation Commission, which last June agreed to lease a portion of the unused Arms Brook Park for the “Dog Bark” where dogs could run free and play with each other but the site was eventually found to be unsuitable, largely because of the costs associated with establishing a driveway and parking area at the north side park.
The Friends shifted their attention to Papermill Playground, when the parks department interim acting director suggested that part of the playground, used primarily for about three months a year by the city’s Little League, could be adapted for a doggie playground.
Marilyn Sandidge, the vice president of the Friends, said at the commission’s January meeting that the area could house a dog park which would be quite different from the tree-shaded area considered at Arms Brook Park but one which would be acceptable to the group.
The area of the playground under consideration is a little more than a half-acre of the playground’s lawn on the eastern side near a wooded border.
The volunteer group has staged a number of fund-raising events since they started to plan for a dog park and Sandidge said that the Friends have the resources to erect fencing to safely contain the playing dogs and mulch for the play area.
She said that members are investigating the possibility of erecting fabric “shade sails” to give the dogs and their owners some relief from the summer sun.
The pros and cons of the Papermill Playground location for the dog park were debated at the commission’s January meeting and a recent press release from the commission reports that an agreement with the Friends to use the site could be finalized soon.
The public meeting will give the commissioners an opportunity to explain the proposal to interested parties and to hear their opinions.
The commissioners said at their last meeting that they hoped to stage a final vote on the proposal at their Feb. 27 meeting.
