CtPost on Bark Park

I have previously blogged about this subject for articles that appeared in 2008/Aug in several papers. As far as I am aware, the Parks & Recreation Commission has not advanced the issue substantially since Aug2008, however I have spoken with P&R Chair John Papa and he has asked staff to pull examples of what other Parks Departments offer in the region so Shelton can learn from the best examples. He has pulled a committee together to directly address the issue and then make recomendations to prospective boards or commissions as necessary.

Below is the CtPost article. As is my custom, I recount it's content with my comments as online locations are not retained indefinately. Please visit the article's link for comments that may occur in their publication's website.
http://www.connpost.com/ci_11516359

An interesting note on this blog entry: I have a google news alert set for "Shelton" and received an email on Wednesday afternoon that this article had been published on connpost.com I have done this commentary on Wed evening and thus my comments on the article have occurred before the actual article has appeared in print. The compressed news-cycle of the 21st century. Electrons are faster than protons.

Shelton considers a bark park
By Kate Ramunni, STAFF WRITER
Updated: 01/21/2009 04:34:19 PM EST

SHELTON -- A new city committee will meet next month to begin work on establishing a park dedicated to man's best friend.

The Parks and Recreation Commission recently established a Dog Park Committee charged with determining where best to put the park and how much it will cost. The committee will hold its first meeting Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Community Center.

++ I said I would make myself available, but until now I was unaware of the date. ++

"We have information from other towns on what they have just so we can get an idea of what we need," said John Papa, commission chairman, who is also serving on the committee. Once it finishes its work, the committee will report its findings to the commission, Papa said, which will in turn send a proposal to the Board of Aldermen.

"We don't know how long it will take," he said. "The most important thing is to find the best location with accessibility and parking." And to that end, the committee will look in large part to Tom Harbinson, Papa said, who is the chairman of the Conservation Commission and is a member of the committee. "Tom knows where the open space is," he said.

++ One hope I have for Shelton government, is that more planning be done and technology be used. The Park & Rec Commission and The Board of Education should have plans and projections that reference land needs of the future. Such considerations could then be utilized as input for land acquisitions, an activity the Conservation Commission commonly does in attempting to increase the acreage of Permanently Protected Open Space, and thus is intimately (and often exclusively) aware of opportunities where such preparations for the future could best be accomplished. The use of GIS software would help make such plans and decisions easier.++

"Informally, this concept has been brought up at the Conservation Commission some time ago," Harbinson said. Some also expressed an interest in a "bark park" to Mayor Mark A. Lauretti, who referred it to the two boards.

++ See my 2008/Aug/28 blog entry for more detail on this ++

To be successful, the park would need behind it a group that would assume responsibility for it, Harbinson said. "Typically, for anyone interested in open space, we are interested to see what kind of group would be behind it or sustain it," he said. "We haven't seen that for this yet."

For example, in Ridgefield, the volunteer group, Ridgefield Operation for Animal Rescue, oversees the town's Bark Park Dog Park on Governor Street. And in Hamden, the Hamden Responsible Dog Owner's Group maintains that town's park on Waite Street.

The Hamden park is fenced in and has picnic benches and water bowls, as well as "poop bags."
In Milford, a portion of Eisenhower Park is fenced in for dogs to run off-leash and also provides the bags but no water. The Ridgefield Bark Park includes a separate area for small dogs and provides built-in dog toys, as well as benches and water.

++ I note that all of Shelton's Open Space is open to animals (pooper scooper rules of course, and dogs on leash), but that a "bark park" is one where the dogs roam off leash to play and socialize with other dogs. ++

"It's a good education to see what other communities have," Harbinson said. "Before we start rolling, we want a knowledge base of where it might fit in and how much space it needs and if it needs things such as access to water. "You have to think about where people are going to park, and if you need restroom or storage facilities," he said.

One possible spot could be the city-owned site at the corner of Nells Rock Road and Route 108, he said. "It's one area that has been mentioned, but it's no where near final approval," he said of the property the city bought that includes a home that was formally rented but is now vacant.
"There is some acreage there that might facilitate such a use," he said.

++ The Nell's Rock Rd site will likely be a prominent public access point in the future for the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path, and has also been mentioned as a community garden spot. When compatible uses can co-habitate and make shared use of resources such as parking with impervious surfaces - it is environmentally advantageous, and a manner I'm confident our community would seek to proceed in if it deems the facilities appropriate to pursue. ++