HYANNIS – The Town of Barnstable held a dog park public meeting on Tuesday night to give residents an update on the project that will soon become a reality.
The park, which will be located along Phinney’s Lane near Hathaway’s Pond, is being funded by the Stanton Foundation.
The Foundation provides grants to support the creation of enclosed dog parks in Massachusetts cities and towns and is funding up to $250,000 of the project’s costs.
The Foundation’s agreement with the town says that they will provide 90 percent of the project’s costs, but the town has to fund the other 10 percent too.
Michael Dodson, a Landscape Architectural Services Consultant with CDM Smith, Inc. said that the new dog park is taking ideas from surrounding parks.
“Size-wise and material-wise, it’ll be very similar to the other parks but we’re fine-tuning the stone surfacing for this park,” said Dodson.
Compared to Yarmouth and Provincetown dog parks, which use bigger stones, town officials are looking at rice stones at a depth of four-to-six feet for the dog park.
Town officials said that there is room for expansion in the future to include a grass section in the dog park.
Plans for the dog park include three sections for training dogs, bigger dogs and little dogs, adequate parking and a paved pathway on the outside of the dog park so that dogs can sniff others and feel comfortable before entering the gates.
Town officials have been working closely with the Committee for a Barnstable Dog Park for years to help form a first class, no fee dog park that will be open to the public.
So far on the Cape, there are dog parks in Provincetown, Falmouth, Mashpee, Dennis and Yarmouth.
Committee President Elaine Grace said that there are many benefits to having a dog park in Barnstable.
“I think it’s another asset for the town, especially for visitors,” said Grace. “I can see a lot of benefit to seniors. It’s a good way to connect with other people.”
Town officials, project designers and the committee will meet again to discuss the input they received from residents at the meeting before the project goes out to bid for construction in a few months.
If there are no unexpected delays, construction could start in the spring and may take two-to-three months before it is complete.
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter
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