Can Woonsocket have a dog park?
Some officials moving again to establish dog park in city
WOONSOCKET – After getting muzzled by the City Council last year, the idea for creating the city’s first-ever dog park is back in play with a new initiative from Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt.
Retracing the administration’s successful path to another controversial proposal – for a skateboard park – Baldelli-Hunt has seated an ad hoc panel with instructions to look for a good spot to establish a dog park.
As chairperson, the mayor named Councilwoman Melissa Murray, one of the champions of a dog park ordinance last year that was shot down by her peers on the council. Other members of the Community Dog Park Committee include Eric Boyko, a Woonsocket Fire Department rescue lieutenant; Kelly Wilson, a veterinary technician and city resident; Amy Devereaux, legal assistant in the city’s Law Department; and Public Works Director Steve D’Agostino.
“Creating a dog park within our community enhances the options of public recreational spaces offered to residents and addresses the needs of the many dog owners in the city,” said the mayor. “Dog parks have proven to be wildly successful in cities across the country and I know we can replicate that kind of success within Woonsocket.”
An animal lover who keeps two small dogs, Murray says she’s thrilled the mayor asked her to chair the study group.
Even though a majority of the council last year declined to consider adopting rules for a dog park – no location was ever discussed – Murray says there is
considerable popular support for a dog park among residents.
“I think the demand is very high,” she said. “From a resident’s perspective, this is definitely an issue that many people are going to get behind.” It looks like they already are. “Woonsocket Dog Parks,” a page on Facebook, has garnered more than 1,100 “likes” and a long list of supportive comments on the prospects for a dog park in the city.
“Wonderful idea!” enthused Andrea Farquhar in a recent post to the page. “I have to travel all the way to Wrentham whenever I want to let my dog see all of his ‘friends’ to run around and play with other dogs. It’s a great idea and just what Woonsocket needs.”
“We are thrilled by the idea,” Enoch John Valentine chimed in. “When we moved to Woonsocket five years ago a dog park was the only thing missing. We are behind this 100 percent!”
Typically, a dog park consists of a fenced-in area where small and large dogs are partitioned off from each other, according to Murray. They often employ such safety features as doublegated holding areas at the entryway to prevent dogs from getting loose when their owners are unleashing them to roam freely within the park.
Pet owners are always responsible for maintaining control over their pets when they’re off-leash inside the park and for picking up pet wastes, Murray says.
There’s no comprehensive invento- ry of dog parks in the state, but a simple google search suggests there are many. “Top 10 Off-Leash Dog Parks in Rhode Island” and “Best Dog Parks in Cranston” are just some of the hits that come back.
The web site Dog Goes lists 26 dog parks in 18 communities.
“Rhode Island has some great dog parks and several communities are busy working to get new dog parks,” the web site says.
Murray says dog parks often don’t get the same level of respect accorded other sorts of recreational amenities. But for many pet owners, the availability of a dog park can be an important factor in choosing a place to live, and dog parks can also help attract visitors from outside the community.
Except for the tabling of proposed rules for a dog park, the only other time dogs and parks made headlines recently was when the council debated whether to restrict pets from the new World War II Veterans Park. Officials were particularly concerned about keeping pets off the new children’s splash pad for reasons of health and safety.
Ultimately, the council voted to allow pets in World War II Park, provided they’re leashed.
The mayor said she is grateful to the members of the study committee for “stepping up and sharing their passion” for launching a free-range dog park.
“Our goal is to improve the quality of life within the community through innovative projects such as this,” she said.