What Dog Park? – Part 1 by Sharon Forest, Happy Tails Dog Club THE FACTS:
1. Life Estates (behind the mailboxes near Fairfax) has been designated by the LOWA Board as the future site of a LOW proposed dog park.
2. Happy Tails Dog Club is forming NOW! Please keep reading!
Q. What size will the dog park be?
A. Approximately 1 acre, fenced, with separate sections for small and large dogs.
Q. What is the estimated cost of building the dog park?
A. It is estimated that a basic dog park would cost approximately $30,000. This amount includes 6-foot fencing, a gravel parking lot, signage, and waste stations.
Q. Where will the estimated $30,000 come from for the basic park?
A. Project Leaders for the dog park have submitted (6/27/17) a New Asset & Capital Improvement Project Request to the Planning and Finance Committees, the General Manager and the Board for approval.
Q. What does that mean?
A. We are requesting that LOWA approve the $30,000 to be placed in the 2018 budget. If approved by the Board and GM, the dog park could conceivably be built in the spring of 2018.
Q. What happens if the Board doesn’t approve the funding?
A. The dog club would attempt to raise funds to build the dog park, which means it would extend the time before the dog park actually gets built.
Q. What happens if the Board approves the funding, but the funding is later withdrawn (as happened last year)?
A. THE FUNDING WAS WITHDRAWN LAST YEAR BECAUSE THE BOARD DIDN’T KNOW HOW MUCH INTEREST/SUPPORT THERE WOULD BE FOR THE DOG PARK. Happy Tails Dog Club has been formed since then and is continuing to sign up new members. The Club is circulating a petition simply asking if you, as a LOW resident, would support a dog park being built in LOW. To date, Happy Tails has 250+ signatures supporting the building of a dog park, and we continue to collect signatures. Happy Tails Club has approximately 55 members – some who have dogs, some who are in the process of searching for a new dog, and some who have
no dog but just want to help get the dog park built.
Please help support the dog park by signing up for the Happy Tails Dog Club. If we don’t show support for the dog park to the Board, we are in danger of not having it built at all. Please contact Rich Kunka or Sharon Forest at HappyTailsClub627@gmail.com to sign up/ask questions. Part 2 of this article – the cost of becoming a dog club member, who will use the dog park, and more – will appear in a future issue of On Lake Time.
