Animal Shelter and Bark Park

The CtPost had an article regarding the Animal Shelter and Dog Park being located on a parcel at corner of Nells Rock and Rte 108. The interaction between this City infrastructure use of Shelton Open Space in the Shelton Lakes Greenway, which is currently being used for passive recreation of trails, was a discussion in our google groups emails and at our Conservation Commission meetings.

I encourage readers to go to the CtPost article as they are the content creator of the article and have methods for readers to comment on their aritlces within their website. I cut/paste with my comments under right of fair-use for public education as Chairman of the Conservation Commission.
By Kate RamunniSTAFF WRITER
Updated: 08/03/2009 12:18:02 AM EDT

SHELTON -- Members of the Conservation Commission want to begin a discussion with members of the Animal Shelter Building Committee amid talk that the shelter could be relocated to city-owned open space near the Shelton Greenway.

Commission chairman Tom Harbinson has invited committee members to attend the commission's meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. in City Hall. "The Conservation Commission has strong concerns regarding any proposed relocation of the animal shelter to the Shelton Lakes Greenway along Shelton Avenue," Harbinson said in a letter to committee member Gerry Craig.

The commission wants to discuss the selection process the committee used and what other possible city-owned open space parcels would be appropriate, he said.

Already plans are in the works to locate a dog park at the site at the corner of Shelton Avenue and Nells Rock Road. It's not those plans the commission has concerns about, Harbinson said, but a separate proposal to also locate the shelter there.

"The commission has heard innuendo/rumors that the city is considering combining the off-leash dog area with construction of an animal control facility building," Harbinson said. "This raises several issues as they are differing uses and concepts." Those issues include how it would affect those who use the trail, he said.

"A perpetual presence of corralled animals being held by the animal control officer at a facility might infringe on the passive and peaceful enjoyment of the trails network in a greenway corridor," Harbinson said. "An intermittent public use of a set-back fenced area for dogs to socialize off-leash is a different subject and though the two interact with dogs, they are not the same.
+++ The CC has had a representative on the Bark Park committee of Parks and Recreation Commission and has been part of the planning and review process for that proposed use of Open Space since the inception of the concept as requested by two children to the Mayor in a letter. John Papa (Chair of PRC) and myself (Chair of CC) were asked by the Mayor to review the Bark Park concept, which PRC took over as the more appropriate lead agency. The CC has had no involvement to date with the Animal Control Facility. +++

"If the Conservation Commission knew the parameters of needs for an animal control facility, we might be able to suggest a location that could be further examined and help act to advance the process rather than react to a proposal," he said.

Mayor Mark A. Lauretti, who formed the committee several years ago because he felt the current facility is inadequate, said he thinks the Shelton Avenue site could work.
+++ To be particular, The Plan of Conservation and Development called for the upgrading of the animal control facility, not the Mayor. A building committee was formed quite some time ago, 2yrs sounds about right. The consideration of the current Riverdale Avenue site has been complicated by need to retain future expansion capability for the sewer treatment facility. The Conservation Commission's concern is to help support the City's operations from an environmental perspective, and knowing where currently vacant City is owned land would further that endeavor. To do so, the CC has offered to be part of the process given it's technical knowledge of parcels under City ownership and their characteristics, possibly saving the City time and effort in preface of a selection process, rather than after design has begun. +++

"I don't think it's a bad location," he said. "It's open space and it is accessible to the public, and part of the reason that we bought these places is to accommodate city services." Lauretti said he doesn't understand why the commission would object to the shelter but not the dog park. "I don't know what the difference is between the two of them," he said.
+++ Nells Rock and Rte108 is a desirous location for a multitude of uses. I've heard of an Ambulance or Emergency preparedness location, Park and Rec facility, Nature Center, Firehouse, etc. There is no debating that it is not a bad location of centrally located geography, but that is not our concern, rather: What are the paramaters of the Animal Control Facility, and where might they best be accomodated? How many parking spaces, what size structure, hours of operation, sound or light pollution. Once these are defined, the use would dictate where the options for locating are.
Yes, one of the reasons land is sometimes purchased by the City is to provide location for future City services infrastructure. That was not the case at this Rte108 location however. This was former water utility land (Bridgeport Hydraulic Company) that being a class3 watershed, the utility was allowed to dispose of under State Statutes that require it be used for passive recreation, a term defined in Ct General Statutes. There are restrictions as to what can be done with the land at that particular location.
The difference between a shelter and dog park is the use. The former is a City infrastructure item and the latter is an ancillary passive recreation use. The laymans way of describing passive recreation, is a use that requires no structures. Thus, sports fields that require dugouts or goal posts are active recreation due to the structures. Passive uses can be hiking, fishing, bird watching, kite flying, swimming, ice-skating, etc. Surprisingly, golf is listed specifically as a passive recreation activity (no structures are required for it, only a certain amount of land and a hole in the ground) +++

The Board of Aldermen still has to approve any selected site, and the budget for the new shelter hasn't yet been set, Lauretti said, but he wants to see the project move forward.
+++ My understanding of typical process for City building projects is that the Bldg Committee should select sites based on a defined criteria for the use, recomending one from the resulting list as their proposed site to the BOA. The BOA should request an 8-24 referral from the Planning & Zoning Commission as the appropriateness of the location from a planning perspective, at which point the CC might render commentary for the record. The BOA would approve a budget for the Bldg Committee to work within and applications for construction would commence thru the PZ Dept and Building Dept. After 2yrs, according to the Mayor's comments in this article, the Bldg Committee has yet to complete step 1 - selecting a site. +++

"I would like to see construction start in the spring or summer of next year," he said.
Animal Shelter committee members declined to comment on the issue.

Meetings set The Shelton Conservation Commission meets the first Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. in Shelton City Hall.