‘Paws’ and Recreation: Commission Reconsiders Dog Park Plan

Having heard the public barking about this long-desired new town amenity, the Parks and Recreation Commission is resetting its sights on the creation of a dog park.

Commissioner Andrew Maria broached the subject at the commission’s Wednesday night, Oct. 8 meeting, suggesting that Schenck’s Island could potentially be the best spot for “Spot.”

“Schenck’s Island is not a viable solution for a playground, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be looking to do anything with that location,” Maria said, noting that a dog park would potentially not be impacted by flooding, as a playground might have been.

“I think a dog park’s been floated around for a while now and is probably something that we should look to pursue at Schenck’s Island,” he said, suggesting that, like the pursuit of pickleball courts and playgrounds, it was something the commission should be taking the lead on.

Chair Alix Korpan agreed.

“I think that’s a great idea and it definitely has been floated around over the years and I kind of feel it always fizzled out, and I don’t know why,” she said, unsure whether it’s about momentum or some actual barrier to the creation.

Steve Pierce, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, confirmed that there has been significant consideration given to developing a dog park, but that nothing has ever come to fruition.

“I’ve been on several different dog park committees within the community,” Pierce said, “and it seems that the location is the biggest stumbling block. Schenck’s was considered at one point. Sackett Preserve was considered at one point.”

In contemplating a location, he said, the criteria that were sought seemed to eliminate almost every option, though he didn’t recall what the specific elements were that were considered necessary.

Pierce said that when Schenck’s Island was previously considered, it was not under the auspices of the town itself, but run by the Wilton Land Trust, which made it a less viable option back then.

“I don’t think they were looking to do that at the time down there,” he said.

“The only other area that I was ever able to come up with as an idea, would be what we would call ‘Allen’s East’, which is the state property across the street from Allen’s Meadows, where they use it as a staging area for construction,” Pierce said, “and we would have to get state permission.”

Having a meeting scheduled with First Selectman Toni Boucher on Thursday, Oct. 9, Pierce said he would broach the idea with her.

Pierce said that in the past, people have been concerned about proper fencing of a dog park, particularly in the Schenck’s Island location. Also, he said, worries have been expressed about sanitary issues and related maintenance of the site.

“People had concern about those issues, which would happen again .. I could dust off some of the old proposals and we could go through it and hopefully answer some of these questions,” he said.

Maria repeated his interest in seeing the park built at Schenck’s Island, specifically at the last site that had been considered for the playground before concerns about flooding had nixed that project. He said he didn’t believe the location would impact the field area where concerts are sometimes held.

“We definitely don’t want to disrupt that field location and we definitely don’t want to disrupt much of the land,” Maria said, “so I think the place right behind the chess park is already pretty clear.”

“There really is nothing there that we have to be concerned about if that’s going to be the location we’re going to push to move forward with,” he said.

Commissioner Mark Shaner said that consideration might also be given to an area on the south end of Merwin Meadows Park.

“Food for thought, if we were looking for other space to consider,” he said. “It’s flat, it’s already clear, it’s not conservation land, it’s near the station parking, so if you do get a lot of people coming down, they can park at the station and walk right to it pretty easily.”

While Pierce noted it was already used for overflow parking, he suggested that commission members join him in site visits to that and other locations that might be considered, including Schenck’s Island.