The new proposed four-acre dog park along Ridge Avenue will have a large fenced-in area for larger pooches and a smaller area for small canines, said Jeff Green, a city of Dayton planner.
The park will have a concrete walking path in the larger dog area, and two existing shelters will be incorporated into the project, one of which will be enclosed, with a canopy as well, he said.
“It’s essentially going to be an added amenity to an existing park site — we’re not talking about major development, a loss of green space or anything like that,” Green said.
Butch Richardson, president of the Friends of Deeds Point Dog Park, said there’s a lot of things he likes about the proposed park, but he does not know if the completed product will be as good as it sounds.
“I’m hopeful but skeptical,” he said. “All of it in theory and on paper looks very good... but actually getting it done is a completely different thing.”
The dog park will have a 72-inch chain-link fence, double-gate entry points, water access and eight lights, between the park and parking areas, Green said.
The larger dog park area will be about 3.8 acres, he said, while the smaller one will be about 0.2 acres.
“The proposal calls for some upgrades to the park, such as fence, lighting, concrete pedestrian path,” he said. “The green space will mostly be untouched.”
Right now, there are two access points to the site along Ridge Avenue, but the city wants to eliminate one of them for safety reasons, Green said.
The Dayton Board of Zoning Appeals recently approved the city’s request to use the property as a dog park.
“I think this is a win, win, win, win,” said Mike Herrlein, president of the DeWeese-Ridgecrest Civic Association. “This provides a space for the dog park group, who is going to lose theirs — and it gives DeWeese one more amenity, and we have a lot of them.”
The dog park fits in with the neighborhood, which already has some great outdoor activities, and many residents have furry companions, Herrlein said, and the site is easy to access.
The current Deeds Point Dog Park is about 2.8 acres in size.
The city is committed to building a new dog park that is larger than the current one, and it will pay for the project using the proceeds from the sale of land it owns in the Deeds Point area to the developer of the Greater Dayton School, said Todd Kinskey, Dayton’s director of planning, neighborhoods and development.
Richardson said the city generally has been good to the dog park since it opened in 2012.
But he said he worries the new park project could move forward slowly and proposed features might not happen if it turns out they do not fit within the city’s budget.
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