Dog park proposed for Metfield area
Townhouse owners in the area want it near them.
Several Property Owners Association members attended the recent Joint Advisory Committee on Recreation to ask for a new dog park for the east side of Bella Vista.
There are many residents living in townhouses in the Metfield area, according to Bill Beekman. Many townhouse residents have small dogs, but none of them have a yard to fence in their dogs, he said. A small dog needs space to run, so the residents want a dog park.
Beekman said he had spoken with Rick Echols, POA fisheries biologist, and they had agreed that a section of the Metfield Park would make a good dog park. But sometime after that conversation, a sign appeared in the same area for a proposed bike skills park.
POA General Manager Tom Judson said that he has been looking at sites for a dog park on the east side with Mike Taggert, the POA’s Maintenance and Construction director. There might be enough room for both the bike skills park and a dog park in Metfield Park, he said, but they are also considering a space near the boat launch at Lake Ann.
The POA must consider neighbors, Judson said. The Lake Ann spot is far enough from any homes that noise complaints won’t be a problem.
Colleen Carter, who was in the audience, said the Lake Ann spot is too far from the townhouses. If dogs are playing in a dog park, they won’t make noise, she said.
Almost everyone drives to the dog park at Loch Lomond, board member Pat Laury said. He said that he lives fairly close to that park but doesn’t walk because of the hilly terrain. When he drives there and walks his dog on the trail in front of the park, all the dogs come to the fence to bark at the newcomer, he said.
Bill Puskas, a member of the Rec Committee, reminded the group that they had considered the Lake Ann area for a dog park several years ago, but the townhouse residents didn’t want it there.
It’s 2.3 miles from the townhouses to the Lake Ann spot, board members John Nuttall said.
Judson said he will do some research on both sites and make a recommendation next month. There is some money in the proposed 2017 budget for a dog park that would serve the entire east side.
Alex Graziani, Aquatics and Facility manager at Branchwood, told the board that a bocce ball court could be constructed on the old playground at Branchwood for less than $5,000. Bocce Ball is an easy game that should appeal to a range of members, he said.
The playground at Branchwood will be moved as part of the next phase of the park’s renovation.
Judson said money for the bocce ball court is also in the proposed budget.
Laury asked the committee to think about the possibility of opening the Ark-Mo land up to primitive camping when the trail system is built in that area. The Ark-Mo land is 367 acres on the border of Arkansas and Missouri that was purchased by the POA in 2000 but never developed.
There might be a problem getting water to the area, Nuttall warned, because it’s outside the POA.