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05/20/2022 12:00 AMThe Board of Finance (BOF) approved an appropriation to pay for the creation of a dog park in Westbrook 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 a park.
The Board of Selectmen (BOS) had taken a keen interested in bringing a dog park to town in recent months. In April, First Selectman John Hall invited concerned residents to the April 12 BOS meeting to share their thoughts on possibly bringing a dog park to Westbrook. Hall had suggested the town could use town-owned land by the fields off of McVeagh Road as a possible site.
The BOS unanimously voted to get revised cost estimates on the work needed for the park following the April meeting. At the BOF meeting, Public Works Director John Riggio said that about $14,000 would be needed for the fencing and that the remaining money would go toward creating a parking lot.
At a BOS meeting on May 10, Hall said that the Planning Commission approved the proposal at its meeting on May 9, but the proposal must also be forwarded to the Zoning Commission for further consideration. The next zoning meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 23. Hall said that he wants the project “shovel ready as soon as it’s approved.”
The Public Works Department would undertake the project and be responsible for cleaning the bins at the sight Hall said. 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.
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.