BREWSTER – The town of Brewster will soon submit an application for grant support for the design of a new dog park.
The Dog Park Development Committee’s recommendation of a 2-acre site across from the police station was recently approved by the board of selectmen.
Town Manager Michael Embury said the town will submit a design grant application by the end of the year to the Stanton Foundation, which supports dog welfare projects.
The foundation accepts grant applications for design services and construction of dog parks.
The towns of Barnstable, Yarmouth and Mashpee are three of the more than two dozen communities in Massachusetts to receive funding from the foundation for dog parks.
“People are looking for a place to exercise their dogs,” Embury said. “Especially with the summer population that comes in. We have a lot of folks that come in over that eight- or nine-week period that also have pets and would be looking for a place.”
Embury said it would be at least a few months before they receive notification from the foundation on any awarded funding.
“We’ll go out and hire an architect or landscape architect to help the town design an approximate two-acre dog park site,” he said.
Embury said it is advantageous to the town to have an organization that can help with costs of the park.
“It certainly make it a lot more acceptable to folks,” Embury said. “We think we have a strong case that meets the foundation’s criteria not only for design but I think for construction later on.”
Overall, Embury thinks the park is still a year away before it could be utilized by dog owners.
The process will include site design and gathering input from abutters, getting a final design approval by selectmen, estimating construction costs and applying for grants to cover the cost of installation.
Calls for the park reached a fever pitch 5 years ago when the town’s Board of Health attempted to ban dogs From Drummer Boy Park. The ban was eventually rejected by the courts, but calls for an off leash dog park in Brewster intensified nonetheless.
As part of the research process, the committee conducted an informal survey of more than one thousand dog owners across town.
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