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09/05/2022 11:15 AMDogs in Westbrook are about to gain a safe place to play — the dog park on McVeagh Road is expected to open soon. According to First Selectman John Hall, the finishing touches are just being added and the park should be open by Saturday, Sept. 10.
At press time, Hall said the only thing needed was the installation of signage and a waste bag dispenser. Colleen Topitizer, administrative assistant for the Public Works Department, said the department had received the needed installation items and the work would be completed soon.
The Board of Selectmen (BOS) pitched the idea of a dog park earlier this year, and residents were invited to a April 12 BOS meeting to share their thoughts on the potential project. Hall’s suggestion of using town-owned land by the fields off of McVeagh Road proved popular and the BOS forwarded the plant to he Board of Finance.
The Board of Finance (BOF) approved an appropriation to pay for the creation of a dog park on May 18, making a longtime dream a step closer to reality. The BOF unanimously approved an appropriation of an amount not to exceed $19,500 from the contingency fund to the Public Works Department to create the park.
Now, with the work almost done, Hall said that the park is just about ready to open.
The plan for the site is to have two sections one for large dogs and one for small dogs. There will also be waste bags at the site. The Public Works Department was responsible for the work on the site and will be responsible for cleaning the bins at the site Hall said.
Bringing a dog park to Westbrook is an idea that has been seriously discussed more than once in recent years. In 2016 and 2017, a proposal to turn the Fiske Lane tennis courts into a dog park failed to receive community support, but the idea of putting a park somewhere in Westbrook never went away.
The efforts were re-sparked this year when Hall said that a resident had emailed him requesting that part of Ted Lane Field be used as a dog park. The board, however, has multiple times stated Ted Lane would not be a good place for the park.
Since Ted Lane is used for baseball, softball, and community activities, Selectman Joe Campbell said at the April 12 meeting the likelihood of children coming in contact with dog waste made it not an ideal location. An earlier opinion from the health director stated the same concern. Another fear was that without a fence the dogs could run away.