A Dog Park in Brewster?
After all, other communities have them, why not Brewster?
So what do we have to do to make that happen? What’s needed? How much would a dog park cost? Are dog parks safe? Who would build it? Who would be in charge? What about things like insurance?
These are all important concerns and there are usually many more questions that lots of folks ask when the prospect of a community dog park comes up. They are all key questions that need honest, straightforward answers if a dog park is to become a reality.
It just so happens that right here in Brewster there’s a dog park consultant who can answer these questions and lots more! She’s a parks and recreation professional with a doctoral degree in the field, almost 40 years of parks experience and she’s been teaching recreation and parks college courses since 1981. She’s been focused on and passionate about dog parks for the past 10 years. Her consulting firm, Parks and Pastimes, has been based in Brewster since its inception in 2005. She actually wrote the first professional book about creating dog parks entitled “Dog Park Design, Development, and Operation”. Her name is Dr. Marilynn R. Glasser and she’d be glad to help Brewster create a quality dog park!
Since some folks are not familiar with dog parks and wonder why Brewster should even consider creating one, let’s take a look at some of the many benefits of a community dog park:
- Dog parks provide an opportunity to exercise and socialize pets in a safe environment
- Dog Parks promote responsible pet ownership
- Dog parks provide apartment dwellers, elderly individuals and disabled pet owners with an accessible place to exercise their dogs (ALL parks must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements)
- Dog parks promote enforcement of dog control laws
- Just as park facilities provide community residents with tennis courts, ball fields, swimming pools, basketball courts, soccer fields and the like, dog parks also cater to a large, legitimate constituency in a community; namely, dog owners
- Dog parks provide dog owners with an enjoyable community venue to meet and socialize
- Dog owners love to watch their dogs at play (even non-dog owners enjoy watching dogs in a dog park!)
- Dog parks have reportedly caused decreases in antisocial and illegal activities in public parks
- Community constituents enthusiastically appreciate their dog parks (their typical “complaint” to politicians is, “We should have built this sooner!”)
Clearly, these benefits are compelling reasons for any community to consider building a dog park!
So what’s needed to build a dog park? Dr. Glasser points out that the very first thing needed is supporters – folks interested in having a dog park established in their community. Ideally, they should represent a cross-section of the community, from families, to business owners to politicians and, of course, just ”regular folks”.
Next, a site for the dog park is needed. The site needs to be a minimum of an acre in size, though bigger is better. It also must have access to water. The site should be in an easily accessible location with minimal proximity to residences, other park venues and parking should be available or able to be provided.
- Benches (no picnic tables!)
- Garbage cans
- Waste bag dispensers
- Water fountain(s)
- Signage and bulletin board
The fencing, including several gates, will be, by far, the most expensive cost, perhaps 75-90% of the project. The other components listed, all of commercial, not residential, quality, will offer lots of options in design, material, color and “look” for the community to select. If community fundraising is needed, some of the items can be created with donors’ names.
Speaking of fundraising, for the needed hardscape, the non-grass surfacing in the dog park, brick pavers are a great option since the bricks can be personalized and then become a permanent feature of the dog park. The areas requiring hardscape include the double-gated entry, an extended “apron” inside the fenced enclosures just beyond the entry as well as under benches, garbage cans, waste bag dispensers and water fountains (all of which are along the fencing perimeter). These hardscape areas make maintenance far easier and aesthetically look great!
Dog parks operate primarily as a user-maintained facility with the rules being self-enforced. For example, owners simply MUST pick up after their dogs – and they shouldn’t mind if other owners remind them. The municipality must provide, as they do with all their other parks, mowing and garbage pick-up. The only other regular responsibility for the municipality is periodically replenishing the waste bag dispensers.
As briefly described here, these are the essentials needed for a simple but quality community dog park. Dr. Glasser mentions there are many other options to be found throughout the thousands of dog parks all over the country and dog owners everywhere LOVE their dog parks. Community dog parks are among the most inexpensive park facilities to build yet one of the most appreciated by residents. When a municipality considers it’s many soccer players, softball teams, tennis players, swimmers and so on, even if you add all those folks up, together, the community probably still has more dog owners!
So if Brewster folks are interested in a dog park, clearly, with Dr. Glasser’s info here, as well as her being right here in our midst, it looks like all those questions can certainly be answered and a Brewster dog park project could just maybe be on it’s way!
To contact Dr. Glasser call 800-96PARKS or email mrglasser@aol.com.